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Town Hall, 333 Bay Street, Port Melbourne
Town Hall, 333 Bay Street, Port Melbourne

Mitchell Crescent

People, Places, Port Melbourne History0Comments
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by David Thompson

Mitchell Crescent is a private street that runs through the public housing estate between Nott Street and Bay Street curving towards Rouse Street at the back of the Exchange Hotel.

The large block on the western side of Bay Street between Rouse Street and the beach served as the cable tram depot from 1890 until the tramway closed on 13 March 1937 when it was replaced by a bus service. [1]

The Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (M&MTB) took over the former Port Philip Stevedores’ Association building on the site at that time and converted it into crew rooms and offices for the bus depot with space to park the buses at the rear. By September 1937 a bus garage designed by architect A G Monsborough was constructed facing Bay Street. [2]

The new bus depot in Bay Street, September 1937. PROV

This detail from a 1946 aerial photograph by Charles Daniel Pratt looking east from above Station Pier shows the extent of the bus depot site. The buses can be clearly seen parked behind the garage and offices.

Port Melbourne (detail), Charles Daniel Pratt, Jan 1946, SLV  (H91.160/238)

The Port Melbourne buses operated out of this site until 31 July 1966 when local crews were moved to other Melbourne bus depots mainly North Fitzroy and Collingwood.[3] After the depot closed the site was used by auction companies Fowles and Purdy.[4]

In 1986 architects Bates Smart and McCutcheon designed an estate of public townhouses for the Victorian Ministry of Housing which now occupies the site. Museums Victoria hold a model showing part of the development made by Crysell and Associates and donated to the museum for its exhibition ‘Home Sweet Home: Changes in Victorian domestic architecture 1839 – 1989’.[5]

Architectural Model, Public Housing Port Melbourne, 1989. Museums Victoria

Aspart of the development, Mitchell Crescent was constructed to provide internal access to the estate curving from Nott Street through to the laneway behind the Exchange Hotel connecting to Rouse Street. It is named for Councillor Jim Mitchell.

Election Card, Jim Mitchell, c1970s.
PMHPS Collection, Cat No 1530.

James Malcolm Mitchell was elected to Port Melbourne Council on 2 Nov 1968 and remained until 22 Jun 1994 when Council was dismissed due to the amalgamation with South Melbourne and St Kilda to form the City of Port Phillip. Jim served as Mayor in 1971/72 and 1979/80. He passed away on 4 July 2024, aged 89.

In 1998 a portion of Mitchell Crescent at Rouse Street was renamed Farrier Edwards Lane after the Edwards family who lived and operated a forge nearby.

[1] The Bellcord, Number 46, June 2020, P1, Melbourne Tram Museum https://www.trammuseum.org.au/downloads/bellcord/bc-046.pdf viewed 6 Feb 2025.

[2] Tramway Architect: Alan G Monsborough, Russell Jones, 2014, Melbourne Tram Museum https://www.hawthorntramdepot.org.au/papers/monsborough.htm viewed 6 Feb 2025.

[3] Life at the Port Melbourne Bus Depot, Kevin D Stanes, PMHPS Collection, Cat No 2104

[4] Sands & McDougall Directories 1970 & 1974

[5] Architectural Model, Public Housing Port Melbourne, 1989. Museums Victoria https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/255709 viewed 6 Feb 2025.

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We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we meet and work, the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation and pay respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.