Royal Parade, Melbourne

Royal Parade
Victoria
Royal Parade, looking south from northern end
General information
Type Road
Length 2.4 km (1 mi)
Route number(s) Metropolitan Route 55
Major junctions
North end Sydney Road, Brunswick, Victoria
  Park Street
Macarthur Road
Grattan Street
South end Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
Location(s)
Major suburbs Parkville

Royal Parade is a major urban road in Victoria, Australia, linking Melbourne City to Brunswick and the northern suburbs. It is the site of major educational and sporting facilities as well as several buildings of heritage significance.

Location

Royal Parade runs as a continuation from the northern end of Elizabeth Street, in Melbourne City, at the intersection with the east-west Grattan Street in Carlton. It runs north-south through the centre of the suburb of Parkville and terminates at the beginning of Sydney Road in Brunswick at the intersection of Park Street. For its northern half, it forms the western boundary of Princes Park, Carlton North. Near its northern end, Royal Parade crosses an underpass previously housing the Inner Circle railway line which operated from 1888 to 1981.

The road is not to be confused with other and smaller roads called "Royal Parade" in the Melbourne suburbs of Caulfield South, Parkdale/Mordialloc, Pascoe Vale South and Reservoir as well as in the Victorian towns of Emerald, Inverloch and Riddells Creek.

Transport

Tram, cars and bicycle lane on Royal Parade near Princes Park

Tram route 19, which runs from Bakers Road in Coburg North to Flinders Street Station in the city runs the entire length of Royal Parade on part of its route. Bus routes (Moonee Ponds to Melbourne University) and 546 (Heidelberg to Melbourne University) use Royal Parade. Historically part of the Hume Highway from Melbourne to Sydney, it used to be signed as National Highway 31, but since the opening of the Craigieburn Bypass in 2005 this section was replaced with Metropolitan Route 55.

History and development

Originally following the stock-route bearing north out of the settlement of Melbourne in the 1830s, the "Sydney road" that wound through what is now Princes Park was aligned in about 1852 along the north-south datum line established by surveyor Robert Hoddle.[1] With the founding of the University of Melbourne in the 1850s, the roads of Parkville became more formalised, but the road's poor state of repair was a constant concern,[2] even after its upkeep was put in the hands of the City in 1865 with the costs subsidised from the toll paid for users of the road further out in Brunswick.[3]

Initially part of Royal Park, sections of land on the western side of Royal Parade were progressively sold for housing, commencing in 1868.[4] A Crown covenant was enacted in 1870, regulating such aspects as the height and position of the houses in the northern sections of Royal Parade. The covenant was annulled in 1972.[5]

Creation of boulevard

In 1878 the Melbourne City Council created a tree-lined boulevard "from Grattan-street to the Brunswick boundary" measuring almost 200 feet wide, by planting 816 trees in four rows as part of a scheme that included several major roads in the area:

The Sydney-road, when planted, will be as fine an approach as any city in the world can boast. It is three chains wide, and there will be a row of trees on each side at a distance of 26ft. from the building line; half a chain from these will be second rows of trees, so that there will remain a 66ft. road in the middle for heavy traffic, and an avenue on either side available for light traffic, and all under the shelter of trees. Other improvements to this road are in progress, in the way of kerbing, footpath-making, and draining, and when the trees now about to be planted have fairly established themselves there will be nothing left wanting to its completeness, except to cut down, to the extent of 6ft or 8ft, [a] hill that obstructs the road at the top of Elizabeth-street, to the detriment of the scenery and to the injury of working cattle.[6]

Name

Elm trees on Royal Parade

On 28 October 1878, the City Council resolved to adopt the name "Royal Parade", however it took many years for "Sydney Road" to be replaced in common speech.[7] In April 1879, Alderman James Gatehouse was reported as moving the adoption by the City Council of a report recommending the construction of a "tramway for heavy traffic along the Royal-parade (Sydney-road)".[8] Council debated the merits of a tramway "from the Sarah Sands Hotel to Grattan-street for the use of the brick traffic from Brunswick" for several months before it proceeded at a cost of just over £3,000.[9]

Elm trees

In 1913, the road was transformed again, with the original planting replaced with 400 English elms in four rows, separating the double-width central carriageway from the two outer service lanes. The central lanes were sealed with tarmac for the first time, thus reducing dust significantly, and decorative rockeries were created between the trees.[10] Further works were carried out in 1916 with the assistance of State Government loans to the City Council for public works:

More than any other thoroughfare, Royal parade, or Sydney road, as it is more familiarly called, will benefit from the Government loan. In recent years the council has expended large sums of money to improve the street in conformity with the general plan for the beautification of the metropolis. The great width of the road has permitted the construction of two parallel lines of ornamental flower gardens, and, after considerable labour and expense, these have been brought to such a state us to reflect great credit upon the municipality. At a point beyond the Hay Market, the work on the gardens was finished about two years ago. When the loan money was made available some months ago, the council decided to further improve Royal parade by wood blocking the road between the tram track and the two strips of gardens, and to form a macadam road on the outside of the garden strips. Prior to that time, the central roadway was not sufficiently wide to allow the safe passage of two vehicles travelling abreast, and, to enable this to be done, it was decided to widen the roadway two feet on each side. This necessitated the cutting into the gardens to the extent of two feet. It is estimated that the total cost of the improvements will amount to £40,000.[11]

Also in 1916, it was finally agreed to move the hay, cattle and pig markets situated at the Elizabeth Street end of the Parade.[12]

The cutting where the disused Inner Circle railway line passes under Royal Parade

1924 traffic accidents

Where the road crossed the underpass for the now-closed Inner Circle railway line, the relatively narrow bridge meant that the two side avenues became dead ends. An increasing number of accidents resulted from drivers not realising that the avenues did not continue over the bridge. These included a bus crashing through the boundary fence on 19 June 1924, and falling 40 feet down the cutting onto the tracks,[13] and the death of Mr Samuel Keage, a local architect, on 7 November 1924, when his car similarly ran down the cutting on to the tracks.[14] A few weeks before Keage was killed the Melbourne City Council had let a contract, at a cost of £4,600, for extensions to each side of the underpass to allow for the continuation of the side avenues.[15]

Trams

From 1889 until it was closed in 1923, a horse-drawn tram operated from Royal Parade to the Zoological Gardens.[16] The tram line that runs on Royal Parade itself was electrified in 1935, the conversion from a cable system requiring the installation of poles and sets of overhead wires, the construction of a depot in Brunswick and the purchase of 40 new tramcars, at a total cost of £500,000.[17] In 1936, some trees in a section of the plantings near Janet Clarke Hall were removed to make the road safer for motorists after a further series of accidents.[18]

Many of the large palm trees that had been interplanted between the elms were removed in 1947 as part of a further beautification scheme by the City Council.[19] Some palms remain in the northern section of Princes Park.

Heritage listing

Beginning in the 1930s, the large homes built between 1880 and World War I began to be demolished and replaced with higher density housing.[20] Blocks of two-storey flats with Art Deco styling can be seen at 283 Royal Parade ("Park Court") and 311 Royal Parade ("Royal Court"). Of particular significance were houses such as "Mount Ievers" (see Notable Former Residents, below), built in 1890 and demolished in 1975 to be replaced with a large block of apartments.[21] Numbers of older buildings were then assessed by Heritage Victoria and placed on the register of significant buildings.

Royal Parade itself was listed by Heritage Victoria in 2009, as a site of State significance, being a fine example of the internationally City Beautiful planning movement.[22]

Significant buildings

Listed in order, moving South to North up Royal Parade, away from the City.

Education facilities

Residential colleges of the University of Melbourne

Trinity College Chapel, Royal Parade

Health facilities and services

Research facilities

Ecclesiastical establishments

The former Parkville Presbyterian Church and the WWI memorial

Government buildings

Professional organisations

Notable private residential buildings

George Hawkins Ievers Memorial Drinking Fountain (1916)

Sporting and community facilities

Accommodation and hospitality facilities

Memorials

Notable former residents

"Mount Ievers", previously at 521 Royal Parade; demolished in 1975. Photo by John T Collins. Image owned by State Library of Victoria

Cultural references

See also

Australian Roads portal

References

  1. For an early references to this road, see, for example, "Accidents", The Argus, 25 December 1850, p. 2.
  2. See Legislative Assembly debate, 29 Jan. 1857, The Argus, 30 Jan. 1857, p. 4.
  3. "The Sydney-Road", The Argus, 2 Sep. 1868, Supplement, p. 2.
  4. For earlier discussion of reserving such land, see, for example,"Board of Land and Works (Brunswick Municipality)", The Argus, 30 November 1858, p. 5.
  5. The Encyclopedia of Melbourne Online
  6. "Tree-planting in Melbourne", The Argus, 2 Aug. 1878, p. 6. The date of 1853 given in The Encyclopedia of Melbourne Online seems incorrect.
  7. "What City Fathers Said in 1878 they Say Again", The Argus, 10 Oct. 1947, p.17.
  8. "City Council", The Argus, 22 Apr. 1879, p. 6. James Gatehouse (1826-1891) was a member of the Melbourne City Council for Albert ward from 1870, and was Mayor of Melbourne in 1874-75.
  9. "City Council", The Argus, 1 July 1879, p. 5.
  10. "Royal Parade", The Argus, 17 Jan. 1914, p. 22.
  11. "Street Improvement: Work on Royal Parade", The Argus, 22 June 1916, p. 4.
  12. "Hay and Stock Markets: Removal from Parkville—A Scheme Proposed", The Argus, 4 Aug. 1916, p. 4. The roundabout is still known as the Haymarket, but does not, technically, join to Royal Parade, due to the extension of Elizabeth Street, sometimes known as Elizabeth Street North.
  13. "'Bus Falls 50 Feet Into Railway Cutting". The Argus. 1924-06-20. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  14. "City Architect Killed". The Argus. 1924-11-08. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  15. "Removing "Bottle-Neck"". The Argus. 1924-11-10. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  16. Tramway Museum Society of Victoria.
  17. "More Electric Trams", The Argus, 1 Feb. 1935, p. 9.
  18. "Removing Trees", The Argus, 8 Dec. 1936, p. 8; "Trees Obscured View of Motorists", The Argus, 15, Jan. 1937. p. 4.
  19. "Palms are Coming out", The Argus, 29 May 1947, p. 5.
  20. See discussion of 'Flats' in The Encyclopedia of Melbourne Online (Cambridge University Press, 2005)
  21. E. Graeme Robertson and Joan Robertson, Parkville (Melbourne: Georgian House for the National Trust of Australia (Victoria), 1975), pp. 130-31.
  22. Kate Lahey, "Heritage listing for Royal Parade", The Age, 9 April 2009.
  23. "Royal Parade Sites", The Argus, 11 Nov. 1926, p. 11.
  24. Heritage Victoria, File Number B4060
  25. Heritage Victoria, File Number B4729
  26. Heritage Victoria, File Number B3451
  27. "Divorce Court", The Argus', 28 June 1929, p. 11.
  28. Heritage Victoria, File Number B4726
  29. Heritage Victoria, File Number B3500
  30. Heritage Victoria, File Number B4701
  31. Heritage Victoria, File Number B1354
  32. http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM02080b.htm Encyclopedia of Melbourne Online
  33. "Parkville Memorial", The Argus, 5 Oct. 1925, p. 15.
  34. "Death of Alderman Brenan", The Argus, 18 May 1914, p. 9; "Personal", The Argus, 17 May 1915, p. 8; "Personal", Marlborough Express, 19 May 1914, p. 5.
  35. "Personal", The Argus", 14 Jan. 1932, p. 6.
  36. "Personal", The Argus, 21 Aug. 1920, p. 20.
  37. Find and Connect Victoria
  38. George Parsons, "Ferguson, Mephan (1843–1919)", Australian Dictionary of Biography.
  39. Sylvia Morrissey, "Ievers, William (1818–1901)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 4 (Melbourne: MUP, 1972).
  40. "Death of Professor Kernot", The Argus, 15 Mar. 1909, p.7.
  41. "Royal Parade Rehandicapped", The Argus, 24 Mar. 1931, p. 9.
  42. Royal Parade Myspace page