336- 376 Russell Street, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
From 1943 to 1995, this building was the headquarters of the Victorian Police Force. But for a time it became as much a symbol as a reality.
From the mid-1960s to the early 1970s (and, in reruns, through to the 80s at least), Australian television was flooded with police procedural shows. Mostly produced by Crawford Productions, and mostly based in Victoria in general and Melbourne in particular, the best known would have been Matlock Police (based in a fictional regional town, 1971-1976), Division 4 (based in a fictional inner city suburb of Melbourne, 1969-1975), and the granddaddy of them all, Homicide (1964-1977). The fact that some of the earlier seasons were recorded in black and white has limited their replayability and I doubt that many people under 30 have even heard of them any longer, but back then pretty much everyone in Australia had, whether they watched them or not. Most of the various stars of the show over the course of its run, once household names in Australia, either died 20 years ago in their 80s, or are in their 80s now.
Homicide was centred around the Victoria Police's Homicide squad, or would have been had it consisted of only 3 to 4 guys rather than the (at a guess) 20 or so that it would have had in real life. (Victoria Police doesn't even mention Homicide as a specialist unit any longer. I believe it is part of their Crime Command division which had 647.31 FTEs (Full Time Equivalent staff) as of December 2024, but they don't break that number down any further.)
For its entire run, the opening credits played a stirring, licenced piece of music called "Victory" which was written by American composer James Reichert. On screen in the early seasons, the (then) three stars pulled up outside this building in a boxy 1960s Chrysler Valiant. They would dramatically exit the car, with exaggerated door-slamming sound effects over the top.
In later seasons, after the series became popular, the opener would start with a long shot of this building and zoom in to the windows where the squad's offices supposedly were. The cast were also allowed to drive their fake police car into the building. Thus the building became embedded in the Australian psyche for a time as the "home of policing".
In real life, the building is located in what was once the "law and order" centre of Melbourne, though not necessarily all at the one time. I'm taking this shot from inside the grounds of the Old Melbourne Gaol (1845-1924), which will be the subject of a separate album. The city watchhouse was somewhere to my right (I think; certainly it's along this street). The former Melbourne Magistrates' Court (1914-1995) is also nearby.
The building was designed by the then Chief Architect of the Department of Public Works Percy Edgar Everett (1888-1967) in the late 1930s, with construction beginning in 1940. It adopted an Art Deco / New York Skyscraper style, albeit quite a bit lower at only 16 floors.
In 1986 it was the site of a car bomb detonation which resulted in the death of one officer, 21 year old Const Angela Taylor. A plaque in her memory is still attached to the building.
After the police moved to the Victoria Police Centre in the Docklands area, the building remained empty for a time. It was too prime a location for that to last forever, but the historical and cultural significance of the building wouldn't have allowed it to be knocked down easily. Eventually it was developed into apartments called, collectively, "Concept Blue".
The problem is that a 1940s office building was never intended to be a home. The refurbished units look nice, I'll give them that. But I looked at one of the apartments that has just gone onto the market; 1003/336 Russell Street on the 10th floor. It has 2 bedrooms (in theory if not practice), 1 bathroom (if you don't need a bath), and 1 car space (1960s Valiant optional). The price (as of March 2025) is expected to be in the $500-$530 thousand range which is surprisingly reasonable for inner city living in Australia. Well, in a relative sense. But I think I'd go stir crazy living in it. The master bedroom is 3.07*3.25m with build in wardrobes on the side taking some of the width. The second bedroom is 2.35m * 3.77m with a teeny, tiny built in wardrobe taking up some of that length. A king bed is 2.03m by 1.83m. You do the maths. The combined dining and lounge area is 2.46m wide, though the kitchen (which runs along the side of the dining area) takes up 1.49m of that.
But hey, you never know... maybe at one time the Homicide Squad operated out of here.
