Some more Lost Melbourne. Here is a selection of some of the Victorian skyscrapers all built between 1888 and 1891 and all now gone. They were built on the strength of a boom in land values which crashed in 1892, and the use of hydraulic elevators powered by a pressurised water system under the streets. First two are the three matching buildings in Queen Street built by Wilhelm Prell, the next is Finks, built by Benjamin Fink, cnr Elizabeth & Flinders, then the CML building in Market Street (mostly blank side wall!), lastly the Australian Building, tallest at 11 plus attic, cnr Elizabeth & Flinders Lane. They are all in an article I just published on Wikipedia covering the major Victorian buildings built in the boom that were demolished in the 50s to the 80s, which I’ve called ‘Melbournes Lost Victorian Landmarks’, a fun read. It was partly written by someone else for the ‘Melbourne Architecture’ page, where it doesn’t belong, using the ‘Lost Melbourne’ book as a reference- which isn’t always accurate, so I fixed it up a lot, and added the other important ones, then put it in its own page.
Storey of Melbourne 