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Federation Square

Federation Square
Federation Square (5399921791).jpg
Type Public space
Location Melbourne, Australia
Coordinates 37°49′04″S 144°58′07″E / 37.817798°S 144.968714°E / -37.817798; 144.968714Coordinates: 37°49′04″S 144°58′07″E / 37.817798°S 144.968714°E / -37.817798; 144.968714
Area 3.2 ha (7.9 acres)
Created 26 October 2002 (2002-10-26)
Designer Lab + Bates Smart
Operated by Fed Square Pty Ltd. (State Trustees Ltd for State of Victoria)
Visitors 80 million
Open All year
Public transit access Flinders Street Station

Federation Square is a mixed-use development in the inner city of Melbourne, covering an area of 3.2 ha (7.9 acres) and centred on three major public spaces – St. Paul's Court, The Square, and The Atrium. Built on a concrete deck above busy railway lines, it is located at the intersection of Flinders Street and Swanston Street/St Kilda Road in the city's Central Business District, adjacent to Flinders Street railway station.

Melbourne's first public square, an initiative of the Melbourne City Council was the City Square which dates back to 1968, was considered by many to be a planning failure. Its redevelopment in the 1990s failed to address serious flaws in its design as a public space and it was during this decade that the first plans for a new square were hatched by the Victorian state government.

The site selected was immediately south of the Hoddle Grid and included the Princes Gate Towers of the former Gas and Fuel Corporation, Jolimont Yard and the Princes Bridge railway station (which was itself the former site of a 19th-century morgue). The government sought to remove what were considered to be two of Melbourne's great eyesores, demolishing the 1960s Gas and Fuel Corporation buildings which obstructed a vista of heritage buildings along Flinders Street including St Paul's Cathedral.


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