Victoria Street, Melbourne

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Victoria Street is one of the major thoroughfares of inner Melbourne. Running east to west, Victoria Street touches the Hoddle Grid at the intersection of La Trobe Street and Spring Street, opposite the Carlton Gardens. It runs from its terminus at the intersection of Munster Terrace in North Melbourne until it reaches the Yarra River. The road continues after crossing the river, now called Barkers Road, until it terminates at Burke Road. Technically, it is named Victoria Parade between its intersections with Spring Street and Hoddle Street, where it becomes a divided road with a reservation down the middle.

It forms a part of the borders of several inner Melbourne suburbs, including West Melbourne, North Melbourne, Melbourne, Carlton, East Melbourne, Fitzroy, Collingwood, Richmond and Abbotsford. In addition to the Carlton Gardens, several other Melbourne landmarks are located on Victoria Street, including RMIT University, the Royal Exhibition Building, St Vincent's Hospital, Queen Victoria Market, the Eastern Hill Fire Station and the Melbourne Trades Hall. Before its relocation to Westgarth, the Valhalla Cinema was located in Victoria Street, Richmond.

Victoria Street is well served by public transport, with several tram routes running along portions of its length, including the 24, 42, 57 and 109 routes. In addition, its western end is located nearby North Melbourne railway station, and North Richmond railway station near its intersection with Hoddle Street.

The Richmond/Abbotsford stretch of Victoria Street is also one of Melbourne's better known restaurant strips, hosting many Vietnamese restaurants and grocery stores.

[edit] Other Victoria Streets

Victoria street was named during the reign of Queen Victoria, who at that time was also the ruler of Australia. Due to a mixture of her popularity and a certain patriotism about their state, many developers and local councillors named streets in their localities Victoria Street. Nearly all of Melbourne's oldest suburbs contain a Victoria Street, most of them dating from this era.