A Lane off Collins Street

Alfred Place runs between Collins and Little Collins streets, between Russell and Exhibition. Its first documented occupancy dates to 1850. In its early years, the Collins Street end was residential while the other drew gardeners and greengrocers from the Eastern Market. By the 1860s, the lane had filled with doctors, dentists and boarding houses.

In 1885, the German Club built the clubhouse that would become its landmark. By the 1890s, printers had also moved in, and Melbourne Punch was being produced nearby.

Deutscher Verein

The German Club commissioned John Augustus Bernard Koch, who was born in Hamburg in 1845 and arrived in Melbourne as a boy. He had served as Architect to the City of Melbourne since 1873 and would later become responsible for Labassa, the Caulfield mansion now held by the National Trust.

Koch gave the club a Renaissance Revival façade, with library, dining and music rooms downstairs and a hall for lectures and concerts above. Government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller was among its notable members.

Anti-German sentiment during the First World War forced the club to close in 1915.

Fifty years of officers

The Naval and Military Club bought the building in 1918 and remained there for more than half a century. Sir John Monash and Sir Thomas Blamey both served as president.

The club also changed the building. A refurbishment designed by Philip Hudson created its grand staircase and entrance hall in the 1930s.

Theatre restaurant, jazz room, Mietta’s

After the building was sold in 1974, it became the Londoner theatre restaurant and later Annabelle’s, where live jazz filled the room.

Mietta O’Donnell moved her restaurant and salon into Alfred Place in 1985. For the next decade, it helped change the way Melbourne ate, bringing food, music, theatre and conversation together under one roof.

The year before the move, Mietta’s bartender Jean-Paul Bourguignon had created the Japanese Slipper, a Melbourne cocktail that would travel around the world.

The ground floor now

Today, 7 Alfred occupies the ground floor, with booths inside and tables spilling onto the lane. The menu centres on one dish: a 220g O’Connor scotch fillet from Gippsland, beef-tallow frites and your choice of sauce.

The ballroom remains upstairs. Around 140 years later, the address is still doing what it was built to do: feeding people and holding a room full of them until late.

Take a table at an address where Melbourne has gathered since 1885. Book at 7 Alfred via link above.

7 Alfred practises the responsible service of alcohol. Drink responsibly.