Russell Street Police Headquarters

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Russell St Police Headquarters

Russell Street Police Headquarters was for many years the headquarters of the Victoria Police before they were moved to St Kilda Road in about 1990. The main multi-storey brick building located on the west of the site was constructed 1940-1943 in the Art Deco style and is reminiscent of the design of the Empire State Building. The complex also included buildings along Mackenzie Street constructed in the 1880s and modified in the 1920s, as well as a 1970s brown brick building on the east of the site, which has since been demolished.

It was used in the opening titles of the Homicide TV series, a fictional police drama series dealing with the homicide squad of the Victoria police force.

The complex is located on the north-eastern corner of Russell and La Trobe streets, and extends along Russell Street to the intersection of Mackenzie Street, Melbourne. Across the road on Russell Street is the Old Melbourne Gaol, old City Police Station and City Courts buildings (both now occupied by the RMIT University). The Police Headquarters was the site of the Russell Street Bombing in 1986.

Following vacation of the buildings by the Victoria Police, the site was involved in several failed redevelopment proposals including conversion to student accommodation and to a hotel. In 2005, the eastern wing of the complex, a 1970s building and part of the 1940s southern wing including a theaterette, were demolished to make way for a new apartment building, and the remainder of the complex was being converted into apartments. The apartment complex is now known as "Concept Blue".