Prahran is a part of Greater Melbourne, with many shops, restaurants and cafes. Chapel Street is a mix of upscale fashion boutiques and cafes. Greville Street, once the centre of Melbourne's hippie community, has many cafés, bars, restaurants, bookstores, clothing shops and music shops.
Prahran takes its name from Pur-ra-ran, a Boonwurrung word which was thought to mean "land partially surrounded by water".[2] When naming began the suburbs spelling was intended to be Praharan and pronounced Pur-ra-ran, but a spelling mistake on a government form lead to the name Prahran. More recently the word Pur-ra-ran has been identified as a transcription of "Birrarung", the name for the Yarra River, or a specific point of it.[3]
In 1837 George Langhorne named the area Pur-ra-ran, which was thought to be a compound of two Aboriginal words, meaning "land partially surrounded by water".[4] The word has more recently been identified as a transcription of "Birrarung", the name for the Yarra River or a specific point of it.[3] When Langhorne informed the Surveyor-General Robert Hoddle of the name, it was written as "Prahran".[5]
Describing Prahran, as it was in the mid 1850s, F.R. Chapman remembered:
In the very early times Chapel-street had many vacant spaces. On the west side, about the middle, a man could be seen ploughing his farm... and on the same side was a small brick church, or more probably a school-room used as a church, which was known as Mr Gregory's.[7]
Chapel Street scene c1915. The large building second from the right between Read's Store and the Love & Lewis building was the Charles Moore and Co. department store (built 1903-1906 prior to the construction of Read's Emporium)[8] which was demolished in the 1960s to make way for single storey carpark.
Between the 1890s and 1930s Prahran built up a huge shopping centre, which by the 1920s had rivalled the Melbourne Central Business District. Large emporiums (department stores) sprang up along Chapel Street. Prahran also became a major entertainment area. The Lyric theatre (also known as the fleahouse), built on the corner of Victoria Street in 1911, burnt down in the 1940s. The Royal was the second old theatre built. The Empress (also known as the flea palace), another popular theatre on Chapel Street, was destroyed by fire in 1971.[9][10] The site was operated by the cut-price clothes and homewares chain Waltons for the next decade and was later developed into the Chapel Street Bazaar.
In the 1960s, in an effort to boost the slowly growing local population and inject new life into the suburb, the Victorian Government opened the Prahran Housing Commission estate, just off Chapel Street, together with a larger estate, located just north in South Yarra. Further complementing the high rise developments was a low density development between Bangs and Bendigo Streets.
In the 1970s, the suburb began to gentrify, with much of the remaining old housing stock being renovated and restored. The area had a substantial Greek population and many took advantage of the rise in property values during the 1980s, paving the way for further development and a subsequent shift in demographics.
During the 1990s, the population increased markedly, with demand for inner-city living fuelling a medium-density housing boom, which continues in the area, as part of the Melbourne 2030 planning policy. It was during the 1990s that solidification of the area's gay community occurred, with many gay and gay-friendly businesses (including the last of these closing around 2012).
Demographics
In the 2021 census, there were 12,203 people in Prahran. 63.5% of people were born in Australia. The next most common countries of birth were England 4.6%, New Zealand (3.2%), Greece (2.7%), China (1.5%) and India (1.4%). 75.5% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Greek (4.9%), Mandarin (1.9%), Spanish (1.5%), Italian (0.9%) and French (0.8%). The most common responses for religion were No Religion (52.3%) and Catholic (14.7%).[1]
Prahran is home to a large collection of architecturally significant commercial buildings, with many on the Victorian Heritage Register.
The Chapel Street section of Prahran is notable for its collection of turn of the century emporiums and large buildings, which include:
Prahran Arcade – Built in 1889 on Chapel Street, is a richly detailed building both externally and internally. Retains the original arcade, but decorative roof was removed in the 1950s. Also known locally as "Birdland" due to pigeons which once bred in the recessed balconies of the building and the large eagles which adorn the facade, but are now screened by chicken wire. Was a Dan Murphy's cellar for many years, but currently a JB HiFi store. Heritage listed[11]
Read's Stores – Built in 1914 on the corner of Chapel Street and Commercial Road by architectural firm Sydney Smith & Ogg. The heritage-listed building is a prominent example of large department stores which once lined the west side of Chapel Street up to High Street.[12] Its twin beacons, which sit atop large copper clad domes, were once visible like lighthouses for miles around, but no longer operate. During the 1970s, the site traded as a department store under the name Moore's before the lower stories were converted into shops in the 1980s and named Pran Central. The upper stories were restored and converted into fashionable apartments in 2005.
Big Store – Built in 1902 and closed in 1968 on Chapel Street. A second store, almost as large as the main store, once stood in the carpark to the west, beyond Cato Street, linked by cross-over walkways. This large Edwardian building is currently used by Coles Supermarkets.
Maples Corner – Built in 1910 on the corner of Chapel and High Streets. Converted into offices in the 1980s and many deteriorating decorative features were replaced with post modern elements.
Love & Lewis – Built in 1913 on Chapel Street and converted into a mix of offices, retail and apartments in 2004. Now heritage registered.
Other significant Prahran emporiums include Conway's Buildings (1914) and the large Colosseum building (1897), which was lost to fire in 1914.
Other heritage buildings include the former Prahran Town Hall (now vacant), the adjacent former City Hall (1888) (now unused), the neighbouring police station (1887) and court house (1887) and Rechabite Hall (1888), in the Second Empire style. The Prahran Fire Tower (1889) is on Macquarie Street. State School number 2855, formerly Prahran Primary School (1888), on High Street was converted into apartments in 2005. St Matthew's Church, a large bluestone church on High Street built in the 1880s, was partly converted into offices in the 1980s.
Residential architecture
Gates to Princes Gardens
Residential Prahran consists of mostly single storey Victorian and Edwardian terrace houses, with some larger double storey terraces closer to the main shopping strips.
Public space
Prahran features many small (largely hidden) gardens scattered throughout the suburb. The former Prahran Gardens, now "Grattan Gardens", are on the corner of Greville Street and Grattan Street and features a playground and heritage bandstand. The Princes Gardens on Malvern Road, are a small garden, which features Chapel Off Chapel, an old church converted into a theatre, as well as the Prahran skate park, home to the best vert skateboarding facilities in Victoria. Victoria Gardens, on High Street, is a Victorian era garden designed by notable landscape designer William Sangster in 1885.[13] It features a sunken oval surrounded by London plane trees and a Victory bronze statue. The Orrong Romanis Reserve is the largest park in Prahran, although the Cato Street carpark has been converted into an urban square named Prahran Square.
George Tolhurst – (1827–1877) English Australian Composer. Composed the first oratorio Ruth, in the Colony of Victoria and first performed in 1864 in Prahan.
^"ROMANCE OF BUSINESS". The Herald. No. 10, 392. Victoria, Australia. 9 February 1909. p. 3. Retrieved 25 January 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Prahran Arcade". Victorian Heritage Register. Heritage Council of Victoria. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
^"Former Reads store". Victorian Heritage Register. Heritage Council of Victoria. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
^Foster, John H. (1989) Victorian Picturesque: The Colonial Gardens of William Sangster. University of Melbourne History Dept. p. 73
^Buckrich, Judith Raphael; Prahran Mechanics' Institute (2007), Design for living : a history of 'Prahran Tech', Prahran Mechanics' Institute Press, pp. 96–99, ISBN978-0-9756000-8-5
^Henrietta Cook and Education Editor, 'Going high on High Street, Prahran with $25m vertical school to hit the heights', in The Age March 3, 2017
^Patrick, Alison, "Enid Joske (1890–1973)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 5 November 2023
