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The 'Hoddle Grid' is the layout of the streets in the central business district of Melbourne. Named after its designer, Robert Hoddle, the Grid was laid out in 1837, and later extended. It covers the area from Flinders St to Queen Victoria Market, and from Spencer St to Spring St.

Contents

History

Specifications

East-west streets

North-south streets

Melbourne's lanes and arcades

History

While the survey plan has proved, in time, to be far-sighted for public utility, serving Melbourne to this day, at the time Hoddle's instructions from Governor Gipps were more prosaic.
Land allotments for sale at public auction were to be produced as quickly as possible to deliver to the market. Gipps also insisted that all towns laid out during his term of office should have no public squares included within their boundaries, being convinced that they only encouraged democracy.
The wide main streets were also to accommodate the large number of bullock carts that would ride through the centre of town preventing them from holding up horse drawn traffic when making right turns.
In the 1860s, surveys extended the district, incorporating the region of similarly laid out streets bounded by Victoria Street, Dudley Street and the Queen Victoria Market.

Specifications

All major streets are one and half chains (30 m) in width, while all blocks are exactly 10 chains square (10 acres, 201 m × 201 m). It is one mile long by half a mile wide (1.61 by 0.80 km), and oriented with its long axis rotated 28 degrees counterclockwise of the east-west direction, to align better with the course of the Yarra River.

East-west streets

Parallel to the Yarra River:

★ Flinders Street ''(southernmost)''

★ Flinders Lane¹

★ Collins Street

★ Little Collins Street²

★ Bourke Street, incorporating Bourke Street Mall

★ Little Bourke Street³

★ Lonsdale Street

★ Little Lonsdale Street⁴

★ La Trobe Street (also written LaTrobe) ''(northernmost of the original district)''

★ Little La Trobe Street⁵

★ Mackenzie Street⁶

★ A'Beckett Street⁷

★ Franklin Street

★ Therry Street ''(northernmost, borders Queen Victoria Market)''

¹ One-way westbound, except two-way between Market and Spencer Streets

² One-way westbound, except two-way between King and Spencer Streets

³ One-way westbound

⁴ One-way eastbound

⁵ Runs only between Swanston and Elizabeth Streets

⁶ Runs only between Exhibition and Russell Streets

⁷ Runs only between Swanston and William Streets

North-south streets

Perpendicular to the Yarra River:

★ Spring Street ''(easternmost)''

★ Exhibition Street

★ Russell Street

★ Swanston Street

★ Elizabeth Street

★ Queen Street

★ Market Street¹

★ William Street

★ King Street

★ Spencer Street ''(westernmost)''

¹ Runs only between Flinders and Collins Streets, and is the single major deviation from the Grid.

Melbourne's lanes and arcades

Although not part of Hoddle's original plans, Melbourne has a number of significant lanes which the city has become notable for. The lanes have evolved from the early days of the Hoddle Grid out of necessity as accessways from the minor streets, many themselves known by the name of "lane".
Many of these lanes are used for commercial purposes, some have become covered arcades. Some lanes have been lost to the consolidation of urban blocks and developments such as Rialto Towers. Others have become enclaves of historic buildings spared from consolidation of blocks facing the major streets, appearing as hidden trails that burrow their way through the city.
Among Melbourne's more significant lanes is Bank Place, a small enclave of heritage listed buildings including Mitre Tavern. Block Place, Degraves Street and Centre Place are popular for their funky cafe culture. Hardware Lane and McKillop Street towards the financial district are popular with office workers, and Punch Lane is one of the more popular lanes at the Eastern end of the city. ACDC Lane was recently named after the popular rock band AC/DC. Others are known for their outstanding examples of modern mural, graffiti and stencil art. The Melbourne City Council has commissioned several quirky art installations in a few of the lanes.
Collectively they have become a major tourist attraction to the city and been used as a model for new urban developments such as the Queen Victoria Village, Federation Square and the re-development of Melbourne Central as well as commercial developments in established heritage laneways.
Melbourne also features many covered arcades. Some began their life as lanes, others began as new shopping malls.
Although the popularity of arcades in Melbourne waned in the 1950s, they experienced a revival in the late 1980s. Many of Melbourne's more popular arcades did not survive during these decades, however. Queens Walk on the corner of Collins and Swanston Streets is one such example. It was demolished in the 1970s to make way for the Melbourne City Square.
Significant arcades include Royal Arcade, one of Melbourne's earliest Victorian arcades, which is heritage registered, Block Arcade, a major arcade which coined the Melbourne phrase "doing the Block". Centreway Arcade in the heritage Centreway building connects to several of the lanes in the centre of the city, whilst Campbell Arcade which connects to Degraves Street is Melbourne's most significant 1950s arcade. Other heritage arcades of note include Howey Place and, Cathedral Arcade. In 2005, Melbourne GPO's heritage postal hall was converted into shops and became a new addition to the arcades of the city.