King Street, Melbourne

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King Street is a main street in the Melbourne central business district.

King St begins at the intersection of Hawke St and Victoria St in West Melbourne and continues through the Melbourne CBD turning into Kings Way at the Flinders St intersection. Towards the northern end of King St are the Flagstaff Gardens.

The street is considered the hub of Melbourne's nightlife, and is home to many nightclubs including Inflation, Exchange Hotel and the Colonial Hotel, strip bars including Goldfingers, The Mens Gallery, Dallas Dancers, Bar 20, Centrefold Lounge and Spearmint Rhino and restaurants including the Melbourne Oyster Bar.

King Street is also home to Victoria University's City King campus.

[edit] Buildings and Architecture

In terms of architecture, there are many notable buildings on the street. The street crosses Melbourne's financial heart and many of Melbourne's tallest office towers line either side of the street, especially between Collins and Bourke Streets. The area was once lined with bluestone warehouses, some examples of which still exist to this day. The street has many examples of modern architecture, some designed by Yuncken Freeman who also had their offices located on the street. The street is home to St James Old Cathedral, an Anglican church, is the oldest church in Melbourne, although it is not the church's original site. It was relocated from originally stood near the corner of Collins Street and William Street in 1914. Lazar Restaurant (numbers 234-238), a three storey bluestone warehouse built in 1858 is one of Melbourne's oldest and is heritage registered. The Former New Zealand Mercantile building (1909), one of Melbourne's rare unusual Edwardian buildings is on the corner of King and Collins opposite the Rialto Towers (1986) once Melbourne's tallest. The Melbourne Stock Exchange (1990), another large post modern glass tower is on the opposite corner.

Among the notable demolitions on the street are the Federal Coffee Palace (1888) and Robb's Buildings (1885), which made way for the Rialto Towers, both on the corner of King and Collins.

[edit] Events

Melbourne gangland identities Alphonse Gangitano, Jason Moran, and Mark McNamara, were charged over an attack in a nightclub on December 19, 1995, at the Sports Bar nightclub in King Street, Melbourne .

[edit] Gallery

St James Old Cathedral

Rialto Towers is on the corner of King and Collins Streets