A tram-lined street of rendered Victorian shopfronts runs past a produce market and a Boom-style town hall that played a courthouse for Prisoner.
What South Melbourne looks like
runs wide and straight through the suburb, a tram line down its centre and plane trees along both footpaths. Two and three storey rendered Victorian buildings line the strip, arched window heads and parapets over the shopfronts, the Clarendon Hotel's lettered facade at the York Street corner.
The 's wood and red brick sheds date from 1867, a wrought iron entrance arch lettered over the produce stalls out front. Delis and a bakery counter line the aisles inside, under a run of hanging lights.
On Bank Street, the 's giant Corinthian columns line a portico under a clock tower added in 1881. The building itself dates from 1880, rendered in pale stone with urns and finials along the parapet.
A short walk from the market, the 's cream and red facade opens onto twin arched loggias behind a spiked iron fence. Stone lion statues flank the gate, and the temple dates from 1856.
Away from the main strip, narrow laneways run behind the shopfronts, paved in bluestone pitchers between red brick warehouse walls. Side streets carry rows of two storey polychrome brick terrace houses, their verandahs trimmed in cast iron lace, with a scatter of cream rendered flats from the 1930s among them.
Shot in South Melbourne
For the television series Prisoner, the production used the South Melbourne Town Hall as the courthouse where Tracey Morris stood trial. The building's Bank Street exterior and the street around it played the part, with the interior built on a set elsewhere.
Prisoner, 1979-1986
The Town Hall corner
The Town Hall's exterior and the street outside, opposite Perrins Street, stood in for the courthouse during Tracey Morris's trial. None of the building's own interior appears on screen, only its facade and the street itself.
What South Melbourne can double for
Church Street in San Francisco, California
The J-Church streetcar line runs past two and three storey rendered and painted Victorian shopfronts at a similar scale to Clarendon Street. Both are working tram streets built up in roughly the same decades. San Francisco's steep grades and bright multicolour paint schemes are the giveaway in a wide shot, so tighter frames on the shopfronts hold the match better. Try searching tram street Victorian shopfronts now.
King Street West in Toronto, Ontario
An active streetcar line runs down King Street West past blocks of Victorian era brick commercial buildings at a similar three storey scale. The cast iron and stone detailing on the facades matches the period Clarendon Street was built in. Toronto's blocks run taller and denser toward downtown, so the match holds up best on King Street's lower blocks farther from downtown. Try searching Victorian brick commercial street now.
Girard Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
SEPTA still runs refurbished vintage trolleys on Girard Avenue's Route 15, past blocks of brick rowhouses and corner stores in Fishtown. The trolleys were kept in service partly for how period appropriate they look on camera. Philadelphia's brick runs a deeper red and the rowhouse fronts sit flush to the sidewalk with none of Clarendon Street's rendered facades, so this suits a tight frame on the trolley itself rather than a wide street view. Try searching trolley street brick rowhouses now.
