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Heape Court

Heape Court is located between Queen and Elizabeth streets, extending south from Little Lonsdale Street, doglegging to the west, and extending further south to a dead-end. The lane was named in 1858 for pastoralist and merchant Benjamin Heape, owner of the Heape and Grice business which operated from Little Lonsdale Street. The Heape Court warehouse located at the rear of 361-65 Little Lonsdale Street was built in 1854, and today is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register as a rare and intact example of a gold rush era brick warehouse. The building is a simple two-storey brick structure with a gable room, built by the Holmes Bros firm for Joseph Burton Pynsent, a merchant and general outfitter. It was later used as a blacksmith store for John Cooper and Sons, a wholesale ironmonger and importing firm. In 1860, Heape Court was the location of the Gideon Heard and Co., a tobacco and snuff manufacturing business.

Alexandra Gerner

References
Sands & McDougall’s commercial and general Melbourne directory, Sands & McDougall, Melbourne, 1892. Details
Sands & McDougall’s commercial and general Melbourne directory, Sands & McDougall, Melbourne, 1930. Details
'Heape Court Warehouse, 361 - 365 Little Lonsdale Street, Number H0826. File Number 602735', in Victorian Heritage Register On-Line, 2000, http://www.doi.vic.gov.au/doi/hvolr.nsf. Details
'Central Melbourne - Lanes F-H', in Amendment C105 - CBD Laneways Review, City of Melbourne, 2007, http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/info.cfm?top=195&pg=3065&bp=1902&coll=8. Details
Bate, Weston, Essential but unplanned: The story of Melbourne's lanes, State Library of Victoria and the City of Melbourne, Melbourne, 1994. Details

See also

Lanes and Alleys