Chloé Watching For Trams
This intersection is very famous in Melbourne's relatively brief history. The photo was taken from "Under the Clocks" a traditional waiting place on the steps of the busy Flinders Street Station. Opposite is St Paul's Anglican Cathedral, and to the left is the locally famous hotel, "Young and Jackson". The unseen corner has a modern and significant civic square and Art Gallery, "Federation Square". (The image needs viewing as large as possible for realistic effect.)
The pub too has artistic pretensions. It is home to "Chloé", a large 1875 oil painting of a nude naiad (or water nymph), a work of the French academic painter Jules Joseph Lefebvre. She was once considered very risqué. (If you look closely, you can see that the very tall Chloé has decided to escape the pub and catch the next available tram, coming from the right, her left...)
When I was a boy, the urinals in the station had ceramic tiles with (more or less) the following wording, Gentlemen, please adjust your dress before departing. This was because in those days, Melbourne pubs had to close by 6:00PM. That meant that workers streamed into hotels after work for the infamous "six o'clock swill", to down as much beer as possible before closing time, and then spill onto the streets, into the station, and onto railway carriages.
These days, in different ways, Melbourne is a much more unbuttoned place than it was then...
Chloé Watching For Trams
This intersection is very famous in Melbourne's relatively brief history. The photo was taken from "Under the Clocks" a traditional waiting place on the steps of the busy Flinders Street Station. Opposite is St Paul's Anglican Cathedral, and to the left is the locally famous hotel, "Young and Jackson". The unseen corner has a modern and significant civic square and Art Gallery, "Federation Square". (The image needs viewing as large as possible for realistic effect.)
The pub too has artistic pretensions. It is home to "Chloé", a large 1875 oil painting of a nude naiad (or water nymph), a work of the French academic painter Jules Joseph Lefebvre. She was once considered very risqué. (If you look closely, you can see that the very tall Chloé has decided to escape the pub and catch the next available tram, coming from the right, her left...)
When I was a boy, the urinals in the station had ceramic tiles with (more or less) the following wording, Gentlemen, please adjust your dress before departing. This was because in those days, Melbourne pubs had to close by 6:00PM. That meant that workers streamed into hotels after work for the infamous "six o'clock swill", to down as much beer as possible before closing time, and then spill onto the streets, into the station, and onto railway carriages.
These days, in different ways, Melbourne is a much more unbuttoned place than it was then...