Melbourne (AU), Forum Melbourne -- 2019 -- 1585

The East End Theatre District is a precinct within the

Melbourne central business district The Melbourne central business district (also known colloquially as simply "The City" or "The CBD") is the city centre and main urban area of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, centred on the Hoddle Grid, the oldest part of the city la ...

, and is bounded by

Spring Street Spring Street may refer to: * Spring Street (Los Angeles), USA * Spring Street (Manhattan), New York City, USA * Spring Street, Melbourne, Australia * Spring Street, Singapore * Spring St (website), a US based lifestyle website Subway and trolle ...

, Flinders Street,

Swanston Street Swanston Street is a major thoroughfare in the centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is one of the main streets of the Melbourne central business district and was laid out in 1837 as part of the original Hoddle Grid. The street vertical ...

and Lonsdale Street. The district is home to seven major theatres, including the Princess Theatre,

Her Majesty's Theatre Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established t ...

and the Regent Theatre. These theatres mostly house commercial productions of musicals, plays and other events, in contrast with the Southbank Arts Precinct over the Yarra River which focuses on publicly funded companies.

History

The East End of Melbourne was effectively formed by the

Hoddle Grid Hoddle Grid is the contemporary name given to the approximately grid of streets that form the Melbourne central business district, Australia. Bounded by Flinders Street, Spring Street, La Trobe Street, and Spencer Street, it lies at an an ...

, with Elizabeth Street the dividing line between east and west. The

was laid out in 1837, following the founding of the Melbourne settlement in 1835. Melbourne's first theatre, the Pavilion, was constructed adjacent to the Eagle Tavern on

Bourke Street Bourke Street is one of the main streets in the Melbourne central business district and a core feature of the Hoddle Grid. It was traditionally the entertainment hub of inner-city Melbourne, and is now also a popular tourist destination and ...

in 1842. The second theatre, the Queen's, was also constructed as part of a pub, however it was, and remains, the only major theatre in Melbourne's CBD built west of Elizabeth Street.

East End theatres

Seven surviving theatres exist within the East End. Other major entertainment venues in the East End Theatre District include live music venues 170 Russell and Max Watt's House of Music, Hoyts Melbourne Central, Palace Kino, Chinatown and ACMI cinemas.

Former theatres

The East End has been home to over 25 different theatres since 1841. Some of the major former theatres are listed below.

Economic impact

In July 2016, the East End Theatre District was reported to have made an economic contribution of $692 million, and an economic impact of $226 million, to the state of Victoria.

History

East End theatres

Former theatres

Economic impact

See also