#Swanston Street

[melbmemories]

Corner of Swanston Street and Latrobe Street Melbourne.

[s2z]

Flaneuring after a Christmas get together*

*Alcohol was involved. :)

[writerpyre]

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Some of my “wander ‘round Melbourne” shots from today. Going to see The Rocky Horror Show tonight!

Also, I think it's a given now that no matter how many times I come up here I MUST take a pic of Flinders St Station. It's almost a compulsion at this point.

[stil-lindigo]

Naarm/Melbourne, Australia (19/11/2023)- the Starbucks and the McDonald’s on Swanston Street are both completely closed.

[dream-world-universe]

Flinders Street Railway Station,  Melbourne, Australia: Flinders Street railway station is a train station located on the corner of Flinders and Swanston streets in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is the busiest train station in Victoria, serving the entire metropolitan rail network, 15 tram routes travelling to and from the city, as well as some country and regional V/Line services to eastern Victoria. Wikipedia

[hopefulkidshark]

Flinders Street Railway Station, Melbourne, Australia: Flinders Street railway station is a train station located on the corner of Flinders and Swanston streets in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is the busiest train station in Victoria, serving the entire metropolitan rail network, 15 tram routes travelling to and from the city, as well as some country and regional V/Line services to eastern Victoria. Wikipedia

[scotianostra]

On May 28th 1905 construction of the King's Theatre in Edinburgh commences.

Of all the theatres I have been at in Scotland The Kings is my favourite, the Miners club at my hometown of Loanhead used to run a bus every year for the members bairns to see the Panto at the Kings and later in my life I spent many years living around the Tollcross are where the Kings is situated, it is only a short walk from my flat now, and my local watering hole is called The Kings Arms as a nod to the place, maybe I'm a bit biased with having all this history on my doorstep- our pub quz even had a question about the theatre a couple of weeks back!

Enough of my memories The Kings was built by the Edinburgh firm of William Stewart Cruikshank, the philanthropist and steel magnate Andrew Carnegie laid the foundation stone and the Theatre was opened in 1906 with a performance of Cinderella and managed by A Stewart Cruikshank, he was actually the son of the builder apparently the original owners who contacted the work ran out of monay halfway through the project and some deal was done that included the Cruikshanks taking over ownership as the "King's Theatre (Edinburgh) Ltd" It was designed by the architect J D Swanston who previously designed The Kings Theatre in Kirkcaldy,he drew up the plans very similar to the Fife Theatre on a more grand scale.

The Theatre originally had Stalls and three circles - Dress, Family and Gallery, part of the Gallery was for standing guests! The Gallery was uncomfortable and latterly unsafe and was removed in the fifties reducing the Theatre to three levels with additional seating at the back of what is now called the Upper Circle. The present seating capacity is 1350.

After A Stewart Cruikshank retired, his son Stewart inherited the company and in 1969 sold the Theatre to Edinburgh Council, who still run it.

The interior decor is very ornate with nine boxes either side of the proscenium and there are fine examples of Edwardian stained glass in the foyer doors. The present Upper Circle bar area was originally a Billiard Room and there were shops either side of the entrance at street level. A major refurbishment was undertaken in the mid 1980s when new seating was installed at every level.

The King’s Theatre was built as a variety theatre and has a long tradition of pantomime with such stars as Stanley Baxter, Rikki Fulton and Jimmy Logan. There is also a long tradition of amateur operatic and musical work in Edinburgh which for some years now has taken place at the King’s Theatre.

Using my local knowledge a little known fact about the Kings is that a burn runs underneath the King’s Theatre. Known as the Lochrin (after which buildings and streets in Tollcross are named), the stream once fed the brewery that existed on the site where the theatre now stands.

And another is that local lad Sean Connery used to work backstage at the King's Theatre. In 1951 Sean (then known as Tam) worked as a stage hand and this is where his interest in the acting profession began. He auditioned for a production of South Pacific and, now calling himself Sean, landed a small part - and the rest is history.

The theatre is due to close its doors in the next year or so, but do not fear it is because it is getting a major 20 million pound refurbishment, initial designs for the 113-year-old, A-listed building include removing 200 seats, from 1,300 down to 1,100, to provide more hospitality.

A fundraising campaign, launched in 2019 by actor patron Brian Cox, promised to deliver a modernised, more sustainable theatre by 2023, unfortunately there was a major funding gap and then the pandemic happened, Work is ongoing at The Kings after the Scottish Government agreed to put an extra £3.85 million into a long-awaited refurbishment, there have been stumbling blocks, In January the destruction of one of its bars was refused by the council over concerns about the impact on the building’s “cultural significance”. A fortnight ago it was reported that there has been another set back, with the project’s cost rising by a further £2.3 million. It brings the total cost of the redevelopment to £37.9 million.

The major renovation, which was originally planned to begin in 2021 and cost £25 million, was delayed first by the Covid-19 pandemic and then by the £8.9 million funding gap I mentioned earlier.

Now, however, the project’s timeline has been postponed by a further three months, meaning it is unlikely to be ready for the 2025 Edinburgh International Festival.

The 12-week setback, detailed in a council report, is due to the discovery of bedrock at the base of a lift shaft, and will incur an additional cost of £2.3 million.

In the report, Capital Theatres, the charity that runs the council-owned venue, said it was “confident” that the cost could be met through fundraising before completion.

A spokeswoman for Capital Theatres said: “The development is now set to be complete later in 2025, with the first full production on stage likely to be the pantomime.”

[slidesworthseeing]

Found slide: Olympic Games street decorations at night, intersection of Bourke and Swanston Street, Naarm Melbourne, December 1956. Photo by John W Smith

[nando161mando]

Yesterday community members blockaded the University of Melbourne's 'Melbourne Connect' on Swanston street, calling for an end to the Israeli regime's occupation and genocide in Palestine.

Melbourne Connect is described as a research hub for science and emerging technologies, and also houses STELaRlab-a lab which partners with weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

University of Melbourne staff members and Higher Degree Research Students were blocked from entering all three public entrances to Melbourne Connect, bringing the University's usual business of supplying, supporting, and justifying genocide to a halt.

This action stemmed from escalating community calls demanding that @unimelb cut ties with Lockheed Martin, and the weapons industry.

We are proud of the organizers of this action for their courage in shutting down Melbourne Connect!

Business as usual cannot continue while the University of Melbourne's refuses to address its ongoing complicity in funding the genocide in Gaza.

[dato-georgia-caucasus]

Peter Corrigan - RMIT Building, 8 Swanston Street, 1993, Melbourne, Australia

[melbmemories]

Looking west from the south eastern corner of Collins and Swanston Sts - opposite the Town Hall. 1890 (photo credit. State Lib of Vic)

[s2z]

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 2021-02-20 by stuart murdoch Via Flickr: This corner has fascinated me since the metro tunnel construction began. It's a common sight to see food delivery cyclist tearing up and down Swanston street. I was just glad to be outdoors and wandering in between lockdowns. One of several projects, that explore photography as evidence amongst other ideas. Blog | Tumblr | Twitter | Website | Instagram | Photography links | s2z digital garden | pixelfed.social | glass | grainary | Vero

[skopostheorie]

I was gonna make a post like they're putting trams on Swanston Street every 30 seconds at peak because of woke. But I actually saw Peta Credlin saying that once

[heirbaron-blog]

43 years today (19th Feb,1980), Bon departed this earth, this clip filmed 23rd February 1976, Swanston street, Melbourne.. to be aired on Countdown the following Friday..

[ant-mer-12]

Melbourne's Suburban Electric Trains, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Here in this Post, we see a selection of photos, both by myself and other photographers over many years, of Melbourne's Suburban Electric Train Network. The image showing an old Tait red train photographed from atop the Swanston Street bridge above the eastern metropolitan tracks to/from Flinders Street Station dates from early March 1956, using 1950s era Kodachrome Colour Film and Camera.

[vulgarvirgin]

At a rooftop bar. I bought a drink for a friend and he spilled it.

Swanston Street, Melbourne 2023.