Melbourne central business district

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The Hoddle Grid is the layout of the streets in the central business district of Melbourne, Australia.

Named after its designer, Robert Hoddle, the Grid was laid out in 1837. All major streets are one and half chains in width, while all blocks are exactly 10 chains square. It is one mile long by half a mile wide, and oriented with its long axis rotated 28 degrees counterclockwise of the east-west direction, to align better with the course of the Yarra River.

While the survey plan has proved, in time, to be far sighted for public utility, at the time Hoddle's instructions from Governor Gipps were more prosaic. Land allotments for sale at public auction were to be produced as quickly as possible to deliver to the market. Gipps also insisted that all towns laid out during his term of office should have no public squares included within their boundaries being convinced that they only encouraged democracy.

In the 1960s, surveys extended the district, incorporating the region of similarly laid out streets bounded by Victoria Street, Dudley Street and the Queen Victoria Market.

East-west streets

Parallel to the Yarra River:

• Flinders Street (southernmost)
• Flinders Lane¹
• Collins Street
• Little Collins Street²
• Bourke Street, incorporating Bourke Street Mall
• Little Bourke Street³
• Lonsdale Street
• Little Lonsdale Street⁴
• La Trobe Street (also written LaTrobe) (northernmost of the original district)
• Little La Trobe Street⁵
• Mackenzie Street⁶
• A'Beckett Street⁷
• Franklin Street
• Therry Street (northernmost, borders Queen Victoria Market)

¹ One-way westbound, except two-way between Market and Spencer Streets
² One-way westbound, except two-way between King and Spencer Streets
³ One-way westbound
⁴ One-way eastbound
⁵ Runs only between Swanston and Elizabeth Streets
⁶ Runs only between Exhibition and Russell Streets
⁷ Runs only between Swanston and William Streets

North-south streets

Perpendicular to the Yarra River:

• Spring Street (easternmost)
• Exhibition Street
• Russell Street
• Swanston Street
• Elizabeth Street
• Queen Street
• Market Street¹
• William Street
• King Street
• Spencer Street (westernmost)

¹ Runs only between Flinders and Collins Streets, and is the single major deviation from the Grid.

Surrounding localities

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