4 - AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



rapidly moving up and clown the street, might be mistaken for a flight of fire-flies, and 

 the great moon-like lanterns and reflectors of the tram-cars, approaching in rapid succes- 

 sion, shed a broad glare upon the road before them. 



At the junction of Bourke Street West with Oueen Street a solid block of offices, 

 four storeys high, and built in the Italian style, occupies a commanding position at the 

 south-east angle of the intersection. Proceeding westward the first conspicuous building 

 to attract the eye is the establishment of the firm of Dalgetty, Blackwood and Co., 

 the fagade of which is a pleasing example of the transitional period of Renaissance 

 architecture ; the material red-brick, the windows mullioned and transomed, the intervening 

 pilasters, the friezes, cornices and decorative panels representing freestone ; the triple 

 gables and central bay-window contributing materially to the artistic character of the 

 whole design. Opposite is the Grecian portico of the Jewish Synagogue, close to St. 

 Patrick's Hall, with its rustic basement and Corinthian facade. In the latter building the 

 first Legislative Council of Victoria held its sittings, and here were laid the foundations 

 of the political liberties of the colony by the statesmen who framed its Constitution Act. 



The extensive wool stores of Goldsbrough and Co. occupy a large area of ground 

 at the north-east corner of Bourke and William Streets, while the opposite angle is 

 taken up by Menzies' Hotel one of the finest buildings of the kind in Melbourne, and 

 with an extensive frontage to William Street. Some little distance down this street, at 

 the corner of Chancery Lane, is the Australian Club, erected in the Italian style of 

 architecture. It is a building of four storeys, surmounted by a mansard roof, from the 

 summit of which, owing to its great elevation, a commanding view can be obtained of 

 Melbourne and its suburbs. The approach to the Club is through a coffered and vaulted 

 porch, with Sicilian marble dado and inlaid marble floor ; it leads to a tiled vestibule 

 giving access to the principal apartments of the establishment. What the Melbourne 

 Club is to the squatters, the Australian Club is to the professional and mercantile classes. 

 It already has a large membership, and its convenient position has made it a favourite 

 place of resort. 



Retracing his steps along Queen Street in a northerly direction the visitor presently 

 arrives at the Law Courts, or Palace of Justice, covering a block of land three hundred 

 feet square, surrounded by four streets and having entrances from each. Previous to the 

 recent erection of this extensive pile of buildings, the Supreme Court held its sittings 

 in a small wooden structure near the Gaol in Latrobe Street, the Inferior Courts trans- 

 acting their business in equally unsuitable premises situated in other parts of the city. 

 All of them were inadequate and incommodious, oppressively hot in the summer, and 

 unpleasantly cold in the winter, and so badly ventilated as to be injurious to the health 

 of judges, juries, barristers and witnesses. Moreover, the accommodation the)' afforded 

 was altogether incommensurate with the magnitude of the business which had to be 

 judicially dealt with, and the Government accordingly resolved on the construction of an 

 edifice large enough to contain the whole of the Courts, eight in number, together with 

 the offices of the various functionaries connected with the administration of the law in 

 its higher jurisdiction. The two principal fagades of the Palace face north and west, the 

 main entrance being in the centre of the west front. The style of architecture adopted 

 is the Classic as modified by Italian influences. 



