Prahran Arcade: 282-284 Chapel Street, PRAHRAN

Building Profile

Location

Construction Details

Built in the Victorian period in the Second Empire style

Notable features

The three storey street facade, designed in the Victorian Second Empire style features deep balconies and a profusion of elaborate cement decorative elements. The original mansard roof has been removed, a cantilevered street verandah added and the ground level facade altered. The lofty glazed gable roofed arcade has arching iron trusses and a pilastered blind upper storey. The arcade shopfronts have been removed. The Prahran Arcade is of architectural and aesthetic significance as a representative example of Victorian Second Empire architectural style applied to a suburban commercial building. The styles profusion of controlled elegant detail epitomises the excesses of late 19th century architecture in Victoria. The application of the style to the Prahran Arcade, which stood cheek by jowel with its neighbours, is unusual, because it was typically applied to more free-standing structures such as the Town Hall and Shamrock Hotel at Bendigo, and the former Records Office, Queen Street, Melbourne.

History

• National Trust ( B589)


• Victorian Heritage Register (H1960) - Prahran Arcade is protected by state law

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