Smack bang in the middle of the CBD (Downtown, the City, call it what you will wherever you are) stands the regal Queen Victoria Building or QVB as is it more commonly called.
The architect, George McRae, saw there were a great number of skilled people out of work so he delibrately designed an OTT building in the Romanesque Revival style to ensure they would all be employed for quite some time.
The building was finshed and opened in 1898 and named after Queen Vicky in her honour. For the most part is was a concert hall where you could go and see "Australias Got Talent" of the day and retire to a coffee shop afterwards.
It was almost demolished in the late 50's due to lack of care and the fact it had become an eyesore, but some clever person decided against it and in the 80's it was totally restored to it's former glory and is now a...........shopping centre.
Still. It beats Lakeside and Blue Water dunnit !
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