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Collins Street is a major street in the central Melbourne running approximately east to west. It is notable as Melbourne's traditional main street and best known street. It is also often regarded as Australia's premier street, has several fine Victorian era buildings, is the home of prestigious boutiques and high-end retailers and was for a long time the centre of finance in Australia. The eastern end of the street was known as the 'Paris end' because of its former architecture, now remembered in the nineteenth century "Marvellous Melbourne" mythology.〔Judith Buckrich: ''Collins – The Story of Australia's Premier Street'', 2005, ISBN 1-74097-057-8〕 The length of Collins Street between Elizabeth and King Street has long been the financial heart of Melbourne and is home to various banks and insurance companies. ==History== As laid out by the surveyor Robert Hoddle, it was exactly one mile in length and one and half chains () wide. Collins Street was named after Lieutenant-Governor David Collins who led a group of settlers in establishing a short-lived settlement at Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula south of Melbourne in the early 19th century. He subsequently became the first governor of the colony of Van Diemen's Land, later to become Tasmania.〔 At the western end of the street was Batman's Hill, named for the Tasmanian adventurer and grazier John Batman, who built a house at the base in April 1836, where he lived until his death in 1839. The first major street improvements were carried out in the mid-1850s, including bluestone curbs and gutters, and the introduction of gas lighting in 1855. The first street trees were elms, planted in 1875. A cable tram line was laid in 1886 and was operational until 1930.〔 Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the top end of Collins Street was dominated by the rooms of medical professionals. The prestigious Melbourne Club was a dominant cultural presence. It was also the location of Grosvenor Chambers (9 Collins Street) which was Australia's first custom designed studio complex, and was used by many prominent Australian artists.〔''see'' Alex Taylor, ''Perils of the Studio: Inside the Artistic Affairs of Bohemian Melbourne'',Australian Scholarly Publishing & State Library of Victoria: North Melbourne, 2007〕 Around the turn of the 20th century "doing the Block" became a pastime for shoppers at the Block Arcade area in the retail heart of the street between Elizabeth and Swanston Streets. The Bank of New South Wales Melbourne office earned architect Joseph Reed a first prize in architecture. When the building was demolished in 1935, the facade was transferred to the University of Melbourne to become the Commerce building and is now retained on the facade of the new building being constructed for the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. During the 1950s and 1960s, the street became subject to extensive redevelopment and many historic buildings were demolished by Whelan the Wrecker, despite the efforts of the National Trust and the "Save Collins Street" group. While some examples of boom style architecture survive, the grandest examples were lost to the wrecker's ball. Of the major losses, the most significant were the large Victorian buildings including the Federal Coffee Palace, Colonial Mutual Life building, Robb's buildings, Queen Victoria Buildings, City of Melbourne Bank, Scott's Hotel, Melbourne Mansions and APA building. Many of the buildings destroyed in this era were documented by architectural photographer Mark Strizic and can be found in the archives of the (State Library of Victoria ). Between 2003–05, Collins Street was extended west beyond Spencer Street, and currently ends outside the new ANZ and Myer headquarters further in the Docklands development. It will eventually extend further west in the future, as part of the new redevelopment. This will create an intersection between Bourke Street and Collins Streets, two of Melbourne's most important streets. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Collins Street, Melbourne」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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