24 April 2023

The grand Eastern Market, 1/2 a city block on the corner of Bourke & Exhibition, was designed by Reed& Barnes, and completed in 1879 – but the few photos of the interior are mainly from its demolition in 1960. They show it had three large arched roofs, with skylights along each side of the top parts, like a great 19thC European market, but it never operated like one. While it was being built the wholesalers moved to the Queen Vic Market, which turned out to be much easier access and unloading, and cheaper, so they never returned. Instead, amongst the few fruit & veg stalls, it was mostly cheap goods such as 2nd hand books and clothing, and especially in the evenings a range of entertainments such as fortune tellers and shooting galleries. It wasn’t helped by the fact that the big hall was effectively hidden by shops lining each street edge, and the part lower level was even harder to access; that part became a garage by the 1920s. It hung on half empty after WW2 until it was demolished in 1960 for the glamorous Southern Cross Hotel, itself sadly demolished in 2003. The only remnant is the foundation stone, retained and relocated but unnoticed in the Southern Cross, and again in the new development. Images and detail of Mahlstedt Fire Insurance map @library_vic. The photo of the foundation stone is mine, I assume it’s still there on the Bourke street side.

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