King Street, Melbourne

King Street Victoria
King Street, facing north from Flinders St
Length	2 km (1 mi)
Direction	Northwest-Southeast
From	Curzon Street and Victoria Street, West Melbourne
Suburb	Melbourne CBD
To	Flinders Street, Melbourne CBD
Major junctions	Dudley Street La Trobe Street Lonsdale Street Bourke Street Collins Street

King Street is a main street in the Melbourne central business district. King Street is part of the Pacific Highway, and used to be part of National Route 1 until the city by-pass road linking the Monash Freeway with the Westgate Freeway was completed. The stret is named after Phillip Gidley King, Governor of New South Wales.

King Street begins at Flinders Street, continues through the Melbourne CBD and ends at the intersection of Hawke and Victoria Streets in West Melbourne, Victoria.

King Street is considered a hub of Melbourne's nightlife, and is home to many nightclubs, topless bars and restaurants. King Street is also home to Victoria University's City King St campus. Towards the northern end of King Street are the Flagstaff Gardens.

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.

St James Old Cathedral

The street is home to St James Old Cathedral, an Anglican church, 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 (1888-1972) and Robb's Buildings (1885), which made way for the Rialto Towers, both on the corner of King and Collins, with its observation deck with views over Southbank, Docklands, and Port Phillip Bay.

Adult entertainment district

During the 1980s, the south end of King Street and in adjacent Flinders Street, 19th century warehouses were converted into night clubs.

King Street is Melbourne's main nightclub district and a mecca for strip bars and the inevitable visiting interstate bucks parties. On Saturday nights the whole district is a mass of male dominated activity, but recently a change in its direction has taken root. The now famous underground house music Tramp nightclub (also located in London) opened in 2006, to be followed by at least five other nightclubs.

Clique, a 24hr party bar, the soon to open Buffalo Club are just a handful of professional music clubs within a half kilometre section of strip bars. Of particular note is "la di da" (corner King and Little Bourke), a massively popular bar and nightclub famous for cutting edge electronic sounds and a very trendy patronage.

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

Events

• The collapse of the new King Street Bridge on 10 July 1962.