I have happily read the book Acland Street: The Grand Lady of St Kilda, written by Dr Judith Buckrich (Nov 2017). It explores the history of architecture on Acland St, starting from the 1850s and early settlement, through swamps, race courses, development of the Acland St village, Victorian prosperity and boarding house poverty.
Buckrich searched the archives and interviewed famous people from the Melbourne Jewish community who had a connection to Acland St. She recognised that the street was one of Melbourne's most important because it mirrored so much of the social change that occurred in Australian cities over 175 years. It encapsulated the social and cultural history of the city in a unique way, having been part of Melbourne’s entertainment scene for decades, as well as home to the wealthiest and poorest of its citizens.
The Melbourne suburb of St Kilda was named after Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet (1787–1871) of Killerton Manor in Devon, a British politician and land owner. He owned the cruiser yacht Lady of St Kilda from 1834-40, after which the area was named during one of the ship's visits to Melbourne in 1842. His wife Lady Lydia Hoare was the first English lady to set foot in St Kilda.
This land was once shrubland, lagoons and dunes. For its traditional owners, the Kulin Nation, the St Kilda Triangle was part of an area called Euroe Yroke. After European settlement, St Kilda became a bustling seaside suburb, and the Triangle site became a recreational space for decades.
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Acland St StKilda 2015.
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Buckrich searched the archives and interviewed famous people from the Melbourne Jewish community who had a connection to Acland St. She recognised that the street was one of Melbourne's most important because it mirrored so much of the social change that occurred in Australian cities over 175 years. It encapsulated the social and cultural history of the city in a unique way, having been part of Melbourne’s entertainment scene for decades, as well as home to the wealthiest and poorest of its citizens.
The Melbourne suburb of St Kilda was named after Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet (1787–1871) of Killerton Manor in Devon, a British politician and land owner. He owned the cruiser yacht Lady of St Kilda from 1834-40, after which the area was named during one of the ship's visits to Melbourne in 1842. His wife Lady Lydia Hoare was the first English lady to set foot in St Kilda.
This land was once shrubland, lagoons and dunes. For its traditional owners, the Kulin Nation, the St Kilda Triangle was part of an area called Euroe Yroke. After European settlement, St Kilda became a bustling seaside suburb, and the Triangle site became a recreational space for decades.
Shops and cafes on either side, cars and trams down thecentre
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Acland St StKilda 2017
Cars can no longer drive through. Trams must turn around at the end of the street.
St Kilda became a municipality in 1857, and in the same year a railwayline was built connecting it to Melbourne’s city centre. Regular train services resulted in increased visitors to St Kilda’s sea baths, jetty promenade, cricket, bowling clubs and the St Kilda Cup. By the mid-1860s, St Kilda had 15 residential hotels, including the famous George Hotel.
During the 1880s land boom, it became a densely populated district of large stone mansions and palatial hotels, mostly along the broad Fitzroy, Grey and Acland streets. From the 1890s, many mansions became boarding houses and brothels.
After WW1, the suburb was a magnet for European migrants and singles from less acceptable sub-cultures. There were artists, musicians, writers, the LGB community and anyone who was poor but wanted the joys of seaside life. This suburb of contrasts was, and is, impossible to pin down economically and socially.
After the opening of the cable tramway in 1891, the St Kilda Foreshore Committee was formed by the government to make their area into a Mediterranean seaside resort. Carlo Catani was contracted to prepare a masterplan for St Kilda’s beautification in 1906. Catani’s famous leisure precinct along the bay, as far as Point Ormond, included notable features like the Sea Baths (1910), Luna Park (1912), Palais de Danse I (1913), Palais de Danse II (1926) and Palais Theatre (1927).
European migrants and refugees were arriving by 1946, often taken there straight off the boat - they gave the street a totally cosmopolitan flavour! And Jews like my parents, who had been living in Carlton before the war, started to migrate south to St Kilda, Elwood and Caulfield. They too frequented the cafés, delicatessens and cake shops in Acland St.
Sundays mornings was standing-room only as Jewish men gathered on the street to sort out the politics of the day, eat latkes at Café Scheherazade, buy kugelhopf from Monarch and the latest novels from the Balberyszski Bookshop. Monarch opened in 1934 and was the first of the cake shops here. Two doors away was Scheherazade Coffee Lounge, founded in 1958 by Avram and Masha Zeleznikow who had migrated from Paris a few years earlier. Regulars ordered traditional fare like gefilte fish, chopped chicken liver, potato latkes and kreplach.
Modern visitors to the continental cake shops in Acland St find reminders of a dwindling European-Jewish ambience; alas (for me) the cultural shift has led to the departure of small, but important businesses. Today Balberszki book sellers, Wielunski milk bar, Berioska, Eilat and Carmel restaurants, the Budapest delicatessen, Eat-More Poultry are gone, while Chinese businesses such as Fairy Stork restaurant are going too. The cake shops that were bastions of yesteryear, are now part of a gradual shift from “remnant European” to a "more international beachside" culture.
Cars can no longer drive through. Trams must turn around at the end of the street.
St Kilda became a municipality in 1857, and in the same year a railwayline was built connecting it to Melbourne’s city centre. Regular train services resulted in increased visitors to St Kilda’s sea baths, jetty promenade, cricket, bowling clubs and the St Kilda Cup. By the mid-1860s, St Kilda had 15 residential hotels, including the famous George Hotel.
During the 1880s land boom, it became a densely populated district of large stone mansions and palatial hotels, mostly along the broad Fitzroy, Grey and Acland streets. From the 1890s, many mansions became boarding houses and brothels.
After WW1, the suburb was a magnet for European migrants and singles from less acceptable sub-cultures. There were artists, musicians, writers, the LGB community and anyone who was poor but wanted the joys of seaside life. This suburb of contrasts was, and is, impossible to pin down economically and socially.
After the opening of the cable tramway in 1891, the St Kilda Foreshore Committee was formed by the government to make their area into a Mediterranean seaside resort. Carlo Catani was contracted to prepare a masterplan for St Kilda’s beautification in 1906. Catani’s famous leisure precinct along the bay, as far as Point Ormond, included notable features like the Sea Baths (1910), Luna Park (1912), Palais de Danse I (1913), Palais de Danse II (1926) and Palais Theatre (1927).
European migrants and refugees were arriving by 1946, often taken there straight off the boat - they gave the street a totally cosmopolitan flavour! And Jews like my parents, who had been living in Carlton before the war, started to migrate south to St Kilda, Elwood and Caulfield. They too frequented the cafés, delicatessens and cake shops in Acland St.
Sundays mornings was standing-room only as Jewish men gathered on the street to sort out the politics of the day, eat latkes at Café Scheherazade, buy kugelhopf from Monarch and the latest novels from the Balberyszski Bookshop. Monarch opened in 1934 and was the first of the cake shops here. Two doors away was Scheherazade Coffee Lounge, founded in 1958 by Avram and Masha Zeleznikow who had migrated from Paris a few years earlier. Regulars ordered traditional fare like gefilte fish, chopped chicken liver, potato latkes and kreplach.
Modern visitors to the continental cake shops in Acland St find reminders of a dwindling European-Jewish ambience; alas (for me) the cultural shift has led to the departure of small, but important businesses. Today Balberszki book sellers, Wielunski milk bar, Berioska, Eilat and Carmel restaurants, the Budapest delicatessen, Eat-More Poultry are gone, while Chinese businesses such as Fairy Stork restaurant are going too. The cake shops that were bastions of yesteryear, are now part of a gradual shift from “remnant European” to a "more international beachside" culture.
Acland St cake shops,
inside and outside tables
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More recently the Palais de Danse III opened on the Triangle site, and was later renamed Palace Entertainment Centre. Destroyed by fire in 2007, a masterplan was later approved by Council incorporating repairs to the Palais Theatre and a redevelopment of the Triangle site. Traders fear that Acland St will lose its distinctiveness. Nonetheless it is still a colourful street adorned with art on the footpath and an assortment of talented street performers. In Aug 2014, the Council and the community delivered a project for the St Kilda Triangle site.
In the book, Acland St's cake shops provided a link to St Kilda's European heritage, and to my childhood. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, my parents and their friends spent Sunday afternoons eating cheesecake and sour cream in East European restaurants, especially Scheherazade. The best year was 1956 when my father was integrally involved in the Melbourne Olympic Games. He arranged outings for the homesick Israeli team (all 3 athletes and some older managers) in Acland St.
Happily the fabulous Esplanade Market is still open every Sunday. There's also live entertainment, good food and an attractive atmosphere at famous local bar/restaurant, the Vineyard. And Luna Park of course.
More recently the Palais de Danse III opened on the Triangle site, and was later renamed Palace Entertainment Centre. Destroyed by fire in 2007, a masterplan was later approved by Council incorporating repairs to the Palais Theatre and a redevelopment of the Triangle site. Traders fear that Acland St will lose its distinctiveness. Nonetheless it is still a colourful street adorned with art on the footpath and an assortment of talented street performers. In Aug 2014, the Council and the community delivered a project for the St Kilda Triangle site.
In the book, Acland St's cake shops provided a link to St Kilda's European heritage, and to my childhood. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, my parents and their friends spent Sunday afternoons eating cheesecake and sour cream in East European restaurants, especially Scheherazade. The best year was 1956 when my father was integrally involved in the Melbourne Olympic Games. He arranged outings for the homesick Israeli team (all 3 athletes and some older managers) in Acland St.
Happily the fabulous Esplanade Market is still open every Sunday. There's also live entertainment, good food and an attractive atmosphere at famous local bar/restaurant, the Vineyard. And Luna Park of course.