3-003-860 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Café de Paris, Melbourne, [Australia], 1861. Engraving which '...conveys some idea of the architectural eminence to which the capital of Victoria has attained. The history of Melbourne is unlike that of any other city in the world. None has grown so quickly, nor acquired an equal amount of importance, in so short a time... colonial enterprise, stimulated by the aureous vapour arising from a soil teeming with gold, [has] succeeded in transforming a swamp on the banks of the Yarra Yarra into a city of noble streets, magnificent buildings, and a population of 100,000...Melbourne is rich in stately buildings...Prominent among the recent improvements of Melbourne is the Café de Paris. It is contiguous to the Theatre Royal, and owes its origin to the enterprise of the present proprietors, Messrs. Spiers and Pond. There are few public dining-rooms in the world superior to the café. Its decorations are of the most elegant character, and its accommodation is such that frequently upwards of one thousand gentlemen dine at its tables in the course of a day. It is entered from Great Bourke-street - one of the leading thoroughfares - and is in immediate proximity to the chief business portions of the town'. From "Illustrated London News", 1861.