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    St James Lane looking west of site of new state accident insurance office, 12 October 1964, courtesy of City of Melbourne.
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St James Lane

Located between Collins and Little Collins streets and extending west from William Street, St James Lane was named in 1889 after the St James Old Cathedral. Constructed in 1839 on five acres of land bounded by Collins, William and Bourke streets, St James Old Cathedral is the earliest surviving church in Victoria and one of Melbourne's earliest surviving buildings. It was designed by Robert Russell, a London architect and surveyor who had arrived in Melbourne from Sydney in 1836. The church was relocated, stone by stone, to its present location on King Street, West Melbourne in 1913. Nearby Church Street, just west of St James Lane, is a further reminder of this important site and its connection with Melbourne's foundation era.

Biheng Zhang

References
'St James Old Cathedral: VHR No H0011, File No 602508', in Victorian Heritage Register On-Line, 2000, http://www.doi.vic.gov.au/doi/hvolr.nsf. 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 675, no.1217; VPRS 3181/P000, City of Melbourne Town Clerk's Files Series 1; Public Record Office Victoria, Victorian Archives Centre. Details
Unit 675, no.1304; VPRS 3181/P000, City of Melbourne Town Clerk's Files Series 1; Public Record Office Victoria, Victorian Archives Centre. Details
Unit 675, no.955; VPRS 3181/P000, City of Melbourne Town Clerk's Files Series 1; Public Record Office Victoria, Victorian Archives Centre. Details