Rialto Towers

Rialto
Rialto as viewed from the base of the towers
Record height
Tallest in Melbourne from 1986 to 1991
Preceded by	Sofitel Hotel at Collins Place
Surpassed by	101 Collins Street
General information
Type	Office
Location	Melbourne, Australia
Coordinates	37°49′08″S 144°57′30″E / 37.81889°S 144.95833°E / -37.81889; 144.95833Coordinates: 37°49′08″S 144°57′30″E / 37.81889°S 144.95833°E / -37.81889; 144.95833
Construction started	1982
Completed	1986
Height
Architectural	251 m (823 ft)
Antenna spire	270 m (886 ft)
Roof	251 m (823 ft)
Observatory	234 m (768 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	55 (plus 3 underground)
Floor area	84,000 m2 (904,200 sq ft)
Design and construction
Architect	Gerard de Preu and Partners Perrott Lyon Mathieson
Main contractor	Grollo Australia

Rialto (often The Rialto, or Rialto Towers) is a skyscraper located at 525 Collins Street, in the western side of the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is the second-tallest reinforced concrete building and the tallest office building in the Southern Hemisphere, when measured to its roof (several other skyscrapers in Australia are taller if their spires are included, as are some other structures in Australia such as communications masts and observation towers).

The Rialto featured Melbourne's first skyscraper public observation deck which operated between 1994 and 31 December 2009. It was also the location of Melbourne's first Tower running event.

The site of Rialto (Flinders Lane, Collins Street, Winfield Square and Robbs Lane) was occupied by several buildings including numerous small warehouses on Flinders Lane, Robb's Buildings (now demolished), a grand classical styled 5 storey Victorian office building designed by Thomas Watts and Sons in 1885, and one of the largest in the city at the time two other interwar builidngs on Collins Street, the Rialto Building (1889) designed by William Pitt and the Winfield Building (1890) designed by Charles DEbro & Richard Speight, all part of an historic streetscape along Collins Street running up to the Olderfleet Building to the east.

During the 1970s, the large derelict site was owned by the National Mutual Life Association of Australasia and it was around 1979 when the first development proposal was prepared and submitted to the Melbourne City Council.