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Former Coles, Shops & Market

Other Name Acland Court Location Cnr Acland & Barkly Streets (includes 181 Barkly Street),, ST KILDA VIC 3182 - Property No B6982 File Number B6982 Level Local

[1/1] B6982 Former Coles Shops &

Statement of Significance

The former Coles Variety Store and attached retail shops, built in 1937, designed by noted architect Harry Norris, are of Local architectural and historic significance.
The former Coles building is a notable example of the Moderne style. The facade is an interesting asymmetrical moderne composition displaying an influence of European modernism. The grided area, originally black (possibly tiled), is especially interesting. The shopfront, with its black tiling, curved glass, and terrazzo flooring, is a particularly notable example from the 1930s. The interior, with its decorated curved plaster ceiling and highlight windows, is notable, and is a relatively rare surviving interwar retail interior.
The complex as a whole was intresting for its size, variety of uses, and architectural unity. With the market hall, Coles, shops, and offices and function venue above, this was almost a shopping centre of its day. The street facades of the two storey sections are complementary to those of the Coles building, but are in a more typical, yet noteworthy, streamlined moderne style.
The remnants of the former cinema and market hall are significant as evidence of one of the early cinemas to operate in Melbourne, and of an early multi-purpose entertainment structure typical of the 1910s and 1920s in St Kilda, and also of one of only a handful of historic market halls remaining in Melbourne.
Classified: 07/06/1999