Four of Melbourne's best-known 19th-century buildings stand along a short stretch of Swanston and Russell Streets: St Paul's Cathedral, the Town Hall, State Library Victoria and the Old Melbourne Gaol. They were built in the decades after the gold rush made Melbourne rich, and one architect, Joseph Reed, had a hand in three of them. Together they tell the story of the young city: faith, civic pride, learning and punishment.
St Paul's Cathedral
The Anglican cathedral stands on the corner of Swanston and Flinders Streets, opposite Flinders Street Station and Federation Square. The site has a long history: the first public Christian service in Melbourne was held here in 1835, and a bluestone parish church of St Paul stood here from 1852. The present cathedral was designed by the English Gothic Revival architect William Butterfield and built between 1880 and 1891. Butterfield never came to Australia, and after disputes with the church authorities he resigned in 1884; the Melbourne architect Joseph Reed completed the building largely to his design.
The cathedral was consecrated on 22 January 1891, but without its spires. These were designed by John Barr of Sydney, who won a competition in 1925; work began in 1926 and a thanksgiving service in 1933 marked their completion. Because the spires are built of darker Sydney sandstone, you can still see where the old building ends and the newer work begins.
- The striped walls: Butterfield's trademark bands of contrasting stone, a mix of Barrabool Hills sandstone and Waurn Ponds limestone.
- The spires, darker than the rest of the building, with the central Moorhouse Spire rising highest.
- The bells: a ring of twelve plus one extra bell, all cast in 1889 by Mears & Stainbank in London's Whitechapel, which you may hear ringing before Sunday services.
Melbourne Town Hall
One block north, on the corner of Swanston and Collins Streets, the Town Hall is the seat of the City of Melbourne. It was designed by Reed & Barnes in the Second Empire style, which had come from Paris. Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, laid the foundation stone on 29 November 1867, and the hall opened in 1870 with a grand ball. The clock tower on the corner is still called Prince Alfred's Tower, and the portico over Swanston Street was added later, from 1887.
On 1 February 1925 a fire destroyed much of the building, including the main auditorium and its organ. The replacement Grand Organ was installed in 1929 and rebuilt and enlarged between 1995 and 2001; it now has 9,568 pipes. The hall has seen many famous visitors: Dame Nellie Melba sang here in 1928, and when the Beatles came for a civic reception in 1964, thousands of fans filled the streets outside.
- Prince Alfred's Tower with its clock, the high point of the corner of Swanston and Collins Streets.
- The portico that projects over the footpath of Swanston Street, so pedestrians walk underneath it.
State Library Victoria
Further up Swanston Street, State Library Victoria was founded in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, and its first part opened in 1856. It is Australia's oldest public library. Joseph Reed drew the master plan for the building in 1860, and the judge Sir Redmond Barry, president of the trustees, chose its first 3,800 books. Barry is also remembered for another reason: in 1880 he sentenced Ned Kelly to death.
The library's best-known space is the domed reading room, opened in 1913 and today called the La Trobe Reading Room. Its dome is 34.75 metres wide and the same height, and when it was finished it was the largest of its kind in the world. Because the glass leaked, the skylights were covered with copper in 1959; a renovation reopened the room in 2003 and let daylight back in. Between 2015 and 2019 the Vision 2020 project restored more historic rooms, among them Queen's Hall, and opened large parts of the building to the public.
- The view from the upper galleries of the La Trobe Reading Room, looking down on the octagonal room and its radiating desks.
- The forecourt statues: Redmond Barry (1887), Saint George and the Dragon by Joseph Edgar Boehm (1889) and a replica of Emmanuel Frémiet's Joan of Arc (1907).
- The lawn in front of the library, a popular meeting point where students and office workers sit in the sun.
Old Melbourne Gaol
A few blocks east, on Russell Street, the Old Melbourne Gaol was the city's main prison for more than 80 years. Building began in 1839, the bluestone main wing followed in 1852–1854, and the complex was completed in 1864. The gaol closed in 1924; parts of it were later absorbed by what is now RMIT University, and the rest became a museum run by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria).
Some 133 people were hanged here. The most famous was the bushranger Ned Kelly, executed on 11 November 1880 at the age of 25. Next door, the former City Watch House, a police lock-up, is part of the visit: in the Watch House Experience you are 'arrested' and taken through the cells in an interactive performance.
- The death masks, made from the heads of executed prisoners for phrenology, the 19th-century belief that the shape of the skull revealed character. Kelly's is among them.
- The narrow cells on three levels, linked by iron walkways around a tall central space.
How to see them in one walk
Start at St Paul's Cathedral by Flinders Street Station and walk north up Swanston Street. You reach the Town Hall at the corner of Collins Street, then carry on north to State Library Victoria. From the library, head east to Russell Street and turn north to the Old Melbourne Gaol. The walk follows the grid of the city centre, and trams run along Swanston Street if you want a lift; allow extra time if you want to go inside the library or the gaol.
See Melbourne with World City Trail
Our Melbourne scavenger hunt turns the city centre into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from St Paul's Cathedral to the SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium, and all four places in this guide are among them: St Paul's Cathedral, the Town Hall, State Library Victoria and the Old Melbourne Gaol.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Melbourne.
Play the Melbourne scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Melbourne →
Play the outdoor escape game in Melbourne →
Facts checked in October 2026.