Optus Centre

Collins Street is a major street in the centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was laid out in the first survey of Melbourne, the original 1837 Hoddle Grid, and soon became the most desired address in the city. Collins Street was named after Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania (then Van Diemen's Land) David Collins who led a group of settlers in establishing a short-lived settlement at Sorrento in 1803.The eastern end of Collins Street has been known colloquially as the 'Paris End' since the 1950s due to its numerous heritage buildings, old street trees, high-end shopping boutiques, and as the location for the first footpath cafes in the city. As with all main streets in the Melbourne city centre, the Hoddle Grid is exactly 99 feet wide which would allow for the installation of trams in 1885. Blocks further west centred around Queen Street became the financial heart of Melbourne in the 19th century, the preferred home of major banks and insurance companies, a tradition which continues today with the most prestigious office blocks and skyscrapers found along its length.

All Star Comics Melbourne is an Australian comic book store co-owned by Mitchell Davies and Troy Varker. The store was first opened in February 2011 and in 2014, won the Spirit of Comics Retailer Award at the 26th annual Eisner Awards. The award was split with the Legend Comics & Coffee in Nebraska.

Alkira House is a historic building in Melbourne, Australia. It is widely regarded as one of Melbourne’s most stunning examples of Art Deco architecture. Built in 1936 by architect, James Wardrop, Alkira House is located at 18 Queen Street. James Wardrop is also the architect responsible for designing the Shrine of Remembrance. One of the most striking features of the building is the use of Glazed architectural terra-cotta and glass brick. It was, in fact, the first building in Australia to use glass bricks in its construction. Cleverly designed, the black and white vertical terracotta tiles on the façade take the eye on a journey over six levels to the 'empire-state-like' steeple on top, forming an architectural spine through the centre of the building. Alkira House is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and has at least one apartment available for short term stays on the 2nd floor at Apartment Alkira.

The Head Office building of The Bank of New South Wales was designed by prolific Melbourne architect Joseph Reed and constructed at 368–374 Collins St, Melbourne, in 1856–1857. Reed was awarded first prize, worth £75, in the Bank of New South Wales’ competition to design their new Melbourne headquarters on a vacant block of land facing the prominent Criterion Hotel. Reed's design was chosen for its extensive use of ornamentation on the relatively small scale building. The façade of the Bank of New South Wales building is prized as a leading example of mid nineteenth century Renaissance Revival architecture in Melbourne. Structural shortcomings and the desire for expansion led to the building's demolition in 1932. Reed's original National Trust heritage-listed façade was preserved and gifted to the University of Melbourne, where it can still be seen on the western face of the Melbourne School of Design, opposite Union Lawn.

Degraves Street is a pedestrian precinct and thoroughfare in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is a short, narrow laneway in the Central Business District that runs north–south from Flinders Street to Flinders Lane and is situated in-between Swanston Street and Elizabeth Street. Degraves, as the street is colloquially known, is famous for its alfresco dining options and because it epitomises Melbourne's coffee culture and street art scene. For these reasons it has also become a popular tourist destination.The street is named after Charles and William Degraves, pioneer merchants from Hobart who built a flour mill at the corner of Flinders Lane and Degraves Street in 1849. William was also notably a member of the Victorian Legislative Council for fourteen years.

The Lombard Building is a Victorian era building built between 1889 and 1890, within the Melbourne CBD in Victoria, Australia. It was designed by the architectural practice of Reed, Henderson & Smart (1883–1890), now known as Bates Smart. The building was built to house several office practices, which it still operates as today.

The former Bank of Australasia Headquarters is an historic bank headquarters in Renaissance Revival style located on the corner of Queen Street and Collins Street, the traditional heart of Melbourne's financial precinct, with 19th Century banks on three corners. The design is an amalgam of two periods, the first two floors built in 1875-6 designed by noted architects Reed & Barnes, with the top three floors added in matching style along with a new chamber in 1929–31, designed by A&K Henderson.The Bank of Australasia merged with the Union Bank of Australia to form the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group in 1951, and the new bank sold the building in 1974. Since 2013 it has been a rental apartment building known as Treasury on Collins.It was amongst the first buildings listed on the Victorian Heritage Register on 9 October 1974, and later on the Register of the National Estate in 1983.

The Tasty nightclub raid was an incident on 7 August 1994 during which 463 mostly LGBTIQ+ patrons of the Tasty nightclub event in Melbourne, Australia were detained for seven hours, strip searched and cavity searched by members of Victoria Police. A class action ensued, resulting a total payout of around A$6 million to the complainants, and in 1994 Acting Chief Commissioner Lucinda Nolan apologised to the LGBTQI community. The event has been noted as "Australia's Stonewall", referring to the gay uprising after police raided a club in 1969 in New York.

Naval Base Melbourne was a United States Navy base at Melbourne during World War II. Naval Base Melbourne became the South West Pacific Area Command Headquarters after the 1941 invasion of the Philippines. General Douglas MacArthur, after escaping the Philippines, set up his Headquarters after his arrival on 21 March 1942. MacArthur was appointed Supreme Commander of all Allied Forces in the South West Pacific Area. The US Navy also set up a Headquarters a Melbourne, Allied Naval Forces Southwest Pacific Area under Commander Vice Admiral Herbert F. Leary. MacArthur and Leary used the empty Trustees Executive building at 401 Collins Street, Melbourne for headquarters. The Port of Melbourne had good fleet anchorage and docks. A new naval base was built at Brisbane, Australia, Naval Base Brisbane, and the Headquarters was moved to Brisbane in July 1942.

The Museum of Modern Art Australia (MOMAA), alternatively named the 'Museum of Modern Art of Australia' or 'Museum of Modern Art (and Design) of Australia', was founded by Australian art patron John Reed in 1958 in Tavistock Place, a lane-way off 376 Flinders Street, Melbourne. It held exhibitions of important contemporary Australian and international art of the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Museum operated until 1966 and was formally dissolved in 1981.

The APA Building was a Victorian "skyscraper" in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; at 12 storeys and 53m to the tip of its corner spire, it was the tallest commercial building in Australia at the time of its construction in 1888–9, later reputed (erroneously) to have been the world's tallest at the time.Originally known as the Australian Building (and also known as the Australian Property Investment Co or API Building), it was located at 49 Elizabeth Street, on the corner of Flinders Lane in Melbourne, and was notable for the way the Queen Anne style design lent it very vertical proportionals, enhanced by the steep roof, spires and gables of the top floors. It was Australia's tallest building until 1912, when it was surpassed by Culwulla Chambers in Sydney, and remained Melbourne's tallest until 1929. The APA Building was demolished in 1980.

Flinders Street is a street in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Running roughly parallel to the Yarra River, Flinders Street forms the southern edge of the Hoddle Grid. It is exactly 1 mi (1.609 km) in length and one and a half chains (99 ft, 30 m) in width. It is named for the explorer Matthew Flinders, erroneously credited with discovering Port Phillip at the time of its naming. It extends eastwards as far as Spring Street and the Treasury Gardens and westwards past Batman's Hill to the Melbourne Docklands. As the closest street to the river, Flinders Street serviced Melbourne's original river port. Customs House, now the site for Victoria's Immigration Museum, is on Flinders Street. The street is home to Flinders Street station, the central station in Melbourne's suburban rail network. Tram routes 70 and 75, as well as the City Circle route, run along Flinders Street, and the Flinders Street Viaduct runs parallel to the street, linking the city's two major railway stations. Other landmarks on Flinders Street include Federation Square, St Paul's Cathedral, Young and Jackson Hotel, the Banana Alley Vaults, the old Herald & Weekly Times building, Melbourne Aquarium and Batman Park, which adjoins the Yarra River. It was once home to the Melbourne Fish Market, an ornate building constructed in 1890, covering 23,000 square metres, and of similar design to Flinders Street station. The market was demolished between 1958 and 1960 after which the site became a public carpark. The site is now home to the three towers of the Northbank Place complex which includes office space, residential apartments, retail outlets and a multi-level carpark.