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Merlin Alley

Merlin Alley is located off Little Bourke Street between William and Queen streets.

Merlin Alley housed the businesses of a clothes cleaner, gunsmith and machinist in 1860. On 9 June 1893, John Clarke wrote to the City of Melbourne regarding the state of Merlin Alley, before it had received its current name:

the lane is only 110 ft, there is no dwelling houses or family tenants-the property is only partly occupied so that there is very little use made of the lane...in the meantime every care will be taken to prevent any nuisance or insanitary use being made of the lane.

In 1895, the alley contained cigar makers, various dealers and warehouses.

Patricia Mcmullan

References
Sands & McDougall’s commercial and general Melbourne directory, Sands & McDougall, Melbourne, 1860. Details
Bate, Weston, Essential but unplanned: The story of Melbourne's lanes, State Library of Victoria and the City of Melbourne, Melbourne, 1994. Details
Unit 676, no. 2366; VPRS 3181/P000, City of Melbourne Town Clerk's Files Series 1; Public Record Office Victoria, Victorian Archives Centre. Details