Flinders Street Station
One of Melbourne's most recognisable buildings, Flinders Street station, in the heart of the city on the banks of the Yarra River, has been the focal point of the City's rail system since 1854 and the circulation patterns and forms that evolved from that date are reflected in the present building. No one can mistake its uniquely designed dome and the arches. The Melburnian idiom "I'll meet you under the clocks" refers to the row of clocks above the main entrance, which indicate the departure time of the next train on each line. This is a popular meeting place, at the intersection of two of the city's busiest thoroughfares.The first railway station to occupy the Flinders Street site was called Melbourne or City Terminus, and was a collection of weatherboard train sheds. It was completed in 1854 and was officially opened on 12 Septemberby the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Charles Hotham. The terminus was the first city railway station in Australia, and the opening day saw the first steam train trip in the country. It travelled to Sandridge (now Port Melbourne), over the now redeveloped Sandridge Bridge, travelling along the now light rail Port Melbourne line.
In 1882 the government decided to build a new central passenger station to replace the existing ad-hoc construction. A world-wide design competition was held in 1899, with 17 entries received. The 500 pound first prize went to railway employees J. W. Fawcett and H. P. C. Ashworth, whose design included a giant dome and clock tower. Work began in 1905 and ended in 1910. One of the original platform verandas from the Melbourne Terminus building was dismantled and re-erected at Hawthorn station, in the inner-eastern suburbs.
Flinders Street Station comprises a vast complex of station facilities, offices, platforms and landscaped areas. Its design is an intriguingly unique eclectic mix of early Art Nouveau and Queen Anne, with classical references and a striking ensemble of domes and arches. Featuring Diocletian windows and Arts and Crafts themes. The domes and clock tower give the building a dominant civic presence. Work commenced in 1900 by P. Rodger but was later taken over by the Railways. The main structure, featuring a giant arched entranceway that typifies buildings of the Federation era, was completed in 1909, the verandahs and booking office in 1910. The complex represents an extraordinary example of a public building, offering a range of activities and functions to the general public apart from its main purpose as a railway station. The facilities are unique within any public building of this period.
The building contains a number of rooms along the Flinders Street frontage, including station offices, and a disused Railways Institute ballroom on the top floor, at the western end of the Flinders Street facade. The dining and refreshment room interiors, and the former Victorian Railway Institute rooms, were more akin to a gentlemen's club than to a railway station. The station also featured a creche inside the main dome for a number of years, with an open-air playground on an adjoining roof. Flinders Street Station has the longest train platform in Australia, and was the starting point of Melbourne's first train line (Sandridge line to Port Melbourne) and of course it was the starting point of Sandridge Bridge, which was the first rail bridge in Australia. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, Luz Station, the main railway station of that city, was inspired by the lines of Flinders Street Station.
What is not widely known is that the Flinders Street Station complex, like so many buildings of that era in Melbourne and Sydney, was never finished. The facade facing on Swanston Street was actually meant to have semi circular roofs similar to the railway stations in Europe. Due to financial restraints, this aspect of the original design was never completed. The facade of the building we now see along the length of Flinders Street that faces south (ie the river) was intended to be a temporary measure - it is not even made of the same stone as the Flinders St frontage. The original plan also provided for a giant roof over the platforms, which was never built.
In 1984 Flinders Street Station underwent a $7 million refurbishment. New ramps were provided to platforms which were less steep than those previous, and overhead skylights added to provide better lighting. The main station concourse was tiled and extended westward over the tracks, 16 new shops opened on the concourse, and a restaurant was opened on the southern side along the river. The final round of changes were completed by 2007. It included refurbishment of the building roof and concourse foundations, an upgrade of platform 10 with escalators and a lift replacing the ramp, the relocation of all ticket booking offices to the main entrance under the main dome and new LCD Passenger Information Displays (PIDS) installed on the platforms, subways and concourse.
Victoria Terminus in Mumbai
Rumours persist that the design for Flinders Street Station was originally designated for Mumbai, India. However, no convincing evidence has been produced to support the rumour, other than that Melbourne's city fathers expressed a desire to have Flinders Street Station's main entrance facing Elizabeth Street and not on the Swanston Street cormer where it ended up, and that the architectural similarities to other buildings in their respective cities from the same era may well have made each station better suited to the other city than the one they ended up in. That the Mumbia building's main entrance would fit perfectly into the Flinder Street landscape and would have looked magnificent at the end of Elizabeth Street when viewed from that street no doubt fuelled the conjecture of what might have been.
The story goes that J. W. Fawcett and H. P. C. Ashworth, who won the competition to design the complex, sent their rough plans across for modification by London architect Frederick Stevens as difficulty was encountered in making their design fit the location due to a shortage of space. Stevens is supposed to have finished the two sets of plans at around the same time and accidentally sent the wrong plans to Melbourne and Bombay, resulting in Melbourne building Flinders Street Station to the plan intended for Bombay, and Bombay building Victoria Terminus to the plan intended for Melbourne. The mix-up is said to have occurred because the Bombay station was named Victoria Terminus, and Flinders Street station is in the state of Victoria. The rumour appears to be just that - a rumour - as Victoria Terminus in Mumbai was completed in 1887, but the decision to build a new Flinders Street railway station was not made until 1899, some 12 years later, the year in which Fawcett and Ashworth of the Railways Department won the design competition.
Victoria Terminus (VT) train station is Mumbai's most exuberant Gothic building. It looks more like a lavishly decorated palace or cathedral than anything as mundane as a transportation depot. Also known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the station was designed by Frederick Stevens as the head-quarters of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway Company and was completed in 1887. The first train in Asia ran from this spot to nearby Thana in 1853. The terminus is a highly embellished roit of buttresses, pinnaclas, domes, towers and spires. Gargoyles spring from it's walls, peacocks perch beneath it's eaves, monkeys and mongooses frolic on piller cornices. An imperial lion and Indian tiger guard the front gate, and allegories decorate the main gables. There is also a 4 mt high torch bearing figure of Progress.
