September 2026
The 1887 police station in the west end of Bourke Street is rather dour Gothic, which perhaps what public works architect was SC Brittingham intended, though it would look cheerier if it was cleaned. The bluestone cell blocks behind were built a little earlier and it’s remarkable they’re still there, one of the few to survive I think, and along with Carlton the largest, with two rows of dark little rooms.
The station was the largest in Melbourne after Russell Street, I don’t think it was because this area was poor and crime ridden, but it was densely populated, and amongst a lot of industrial and warehouse uses, which probably did see a lot of break ins etc.
Seems it closed in the mid 70s, then maybe empty, until becoming the Paladin, ‘Australia’s first police station turned nightclub’ in 1989. I seem to recall the cells as something of a drawcard. It’s now a bar / restaurant with the cells as private dining rooms. Cell pics are from the internet, old pics from the 1960s and 70s.
