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Greville Place

Greville Place is located between Exhibition and Spring streets, extending north from Little Bourke Street to a dead-end.

At the heart of the red-light district, on the corner of Greville Place and Little Bourke Street-east of Exhibition Street-the Salvation Army began its efforts to sustain and redeem the derelicts of Melbourne. The hall they used had been set up as a medical centre in 1879 by Dr John Singleton, a tireless philanthropist, whose main hospital in Collingwood was a pace-setter in caring for the poor. He recorded that the Greville Place hall was 'in the very midst of a nest of not less than a hundred brothels'. [Weston Bate, Essential but unplanned, p. 94]

In 1895, the occupants of Greville Place reflected its location in the Chinatown region. Four houses were occupied by Chinese residents, whilst the Sang Goon store was also located here.

Alexandra Gerner

References
Bate, Weston, Essential but unplanned: The story of Melbourne's lanes, State Library of Victoria and the City of Melbourne, Melbourne, 1994. Details