7 September 2024
Popped into Sacred Heart op shop in Chapel Street Prahran – looks like something terrible happened ! But it’s just old brown paint peeling off. Inside is even more interesting – a two storey section with a Victorian staircase, skylights everywhere, timber ceilings, ornate cast iron columns too, it was clearly some kind of big shop. The heritage listings in Chapel Street havnt been reviewed since the 80s, and this one didn’t get a special mention, so I had a quick search of Trove newspapers, and the earliest thing I found at this address was Baylee & Co Auctioneers in 1890; that would fit, it certainly looks 1880s boom period, and auctioneers sold a lot of furniture. In 1894 it was a drapers, by 1900 a stationers, which it still was in the 1950s, as Halls Books and printers. Now it’s furniture again ! The red paint and angled lights all a bit garish, but fun.
Storey of Melbourne 