Collingwood

Melbourne -X- Fitzroy

Collingwood is a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, 3 km north-east of Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the City of Yarra. At the 2011 Census, Collingwood had a population of 6,467.

Collingwood is one of the oldest suburbs in Melbourne and is bordered by Smith Street, Alexandra Parade, Hoddle Street and Victoria Parade.

Collingwood is notable for its historical buildings, with many nineteenth century dwellings, shops and factories still in use.

It was named in 1842 after Baron Collingwood or an early hotel which bore his name.

This is the domain of the Brujah enforcer Fenris.

Gay village

Collingwood is Melbourne's second largest gay village, featuring several gay oriented entertainment venues.[12] These include the Peel dancebar, which in 2007 was granted the legal right to ban heterosexual patrons from the bar, which has been argued to both promote discrimination, or to be a justified manner of protection for patrons.

Housing

Collingwood's housing consists of a large number of high-rise housing commission flats and a number of older single and double storey former workers cottages on small subdivisions.

More recently older warehouses and factories have been converted into fashionable apartments and there has been modern townhouse infill and medium density unit development.

Public and commercial buildings

Collingwood has many buildings listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and several notable commercial and public buildings. Yorkshire Brewery, built in 1880 to the design of James Wood, with its polychrome brick and mansard roof tower, was once Melbourne's tallest building. For many years it has been subject to development proposals and the heritage stables were at one stage demolished without a permit, however the site remains neglected.

The former Collingwood Post Office was built between 1891 and 1892 in the Victorian Mannerist style, to the design of John Marsden and is similar to Rupertswood, with its tall tower.

Prominent hotels include the Leinster Arms Hotel, established in 1865 and is the only single storey hotel built in Melbourne in that era, the Sir Robert Peel ("The Peel") Hotel and the Vine Hotel.

The ornate Collingwood Town Hall is an imposing building that was used until 1994 as the centre of local government for the City of Collingwood.

Transport

Transport within Collingwood consists mainly of narrow one-way streets. The suburb is bounded by main roads: Smith Street to the west, Victoria Parade to the south, Hoddle Street to the east and Alexandra Parade to the north. Major tramlines are on Victoria Street (tram route 109) and Smith Street (route 86), which are on the edge of the suburb. Johnston, Wellington and Langridge Streets are the main arterials going through the suburb.

The Collingwood railway station is in neighbouring Abbotsford.