September 2026
Squeezed in next to the Talma Building in Swanston Street opposite the town hall is one of those skinny buildings that were once much more common around the city.
It’s up for sale for about $20mill, and there’s quite a few interesting things about it – not including the architectural style, which is pretty unassuming. Built in 1926, it was designed by Peck & Kemter with the main feature being the generous bow window right across the front, increasing the floor area. It was for the Aeolian Company, a musical instrument retailer who also made records, eg of concerts in the town hall. They were doing well to have built it, and must have kept doing well because in 1930 they went round the corner or Collins Street into a new building next to the Regent.
Then in 1951 Melbourne’s first specifically queer venue, Val’s coffee lounge, opened on the first floor. This is in super conservative times but Val Eastwood was brave enough to open a place for bohemians and ‘theatrical’ people of all sorts, keeping order personally in her very stylish suits and bright lippy. Not sure how long it lasted, but she wasn’t forgotten and in 2024 got a plaque out front.
Much later, the 70s?, that space became Crossways Hare Krishna restaurant, all vego and all you could eat. Think they were there until Covid, now they’re a block up the street.
My memory is that maybe there was nothing higher up, but now there’s something on every floor, all of them catering to the overseas Chinese student market, mostly eateries but also a place to have a fun afternoon painting something, a hair salon, and an accountant. I’m way behind in saying this but an unintended consequence of the Chinese student presence is that I reckon virtually all the upstairs spaces in the CBD are now occupied in a way they hadn’t been since maybe the 60s.
Restaurant and art place pics google maps.
