Windsor is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Port Phillip and Stonnington local government areas.
Windsor is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Port Phillip and Stonnington local government areas. At the 2016 Census Windsor had a population of 7,281.Windsor is bounded by Dandenong Road, St Kilda Road, Williams Road and High Street.
History
Known at first as Prahran South, the suburb's name was changed to Windsor in 1891, after Windsor, Berkshire. It is often incorrectly referred to as Prahran, Windsor's northern neighbour. In the past, Windsor was within the City of Prahran's boundaries and many institutions still refer to this.
A Windsor Post Office opened in 1856, but was renamed St Kilda in 1858. The Windsor Post Office in the area opened in 1886.
Weather
Things to do
The suburb has many landmarks, including the historic Presentation Convent (now a secondary school), the Windsor Primary School, old post office, Telstra exchange tower and a campus of Swinburne University. In recent times, the large Empire Cinemas, converted into a nightclub, was gutted by fire before eventually being demolished and replaced by high-rise apartments, also named the Empire.
The remains of one side of Punt Road at the Windsor end contains one of Windsor's lesser shopping strips, called Little Windsor on Punt.
The suburb also features new design, including the award-winning Windsor Fire station, by architects Edmund and Corrigan. In Raleigh Street are the K2 apartments, a Sustainable architecture built in 2006, to the design of Hansen Yuncken andfeatures passive solar design, recycled and sustainable materials, photovoltaic cells, wastewater treatment, rainwater collection and solar hot water.
There are many remaining hotels in the suburb, including the popular Windsor Castle and The Windsor Alehouse.
The new Prahran High School has been built on part of the grounds of what is now Melbourne Polytechnic. The new High School is a vertical school consisting of 4 levels with a gymnasium on the top floor. The school will open its doors in 2019 and receive its first intake of grade 7 students.
Today
Although Stonnington's smallest suburb, Windsor has its own bank, supermarket and historic pubs, along with a growing number of independent clothing stores, restaurants, bars, lounges and cafés.
Windsor contains a diverse mix of housing, including medium density apartments, Victorian terrace housing and a high-rise public housing tower.
The Prahran campus of Swinburne University used to be located just south of High Street in Windsor, but this is now Melbourne Polytechnic – Prahran Campus, although it is actually in Windsor. The National Institute of Circus Arts is in Green Street, Windsor.
The painkiller Aspro was invented by the chemist George Nicholas in Windsor. Nuttelex margarine was also manufactured in Windsor for many years but production shifted in the last few years to Knoxfield.
Melbourne's famous Chapel Street shopping strip bisects Windsor, and the Windsor end is seen as being the more bohemian, less expensive end of the street, although as development continues, the Windsor end of Chapel Street is becoming highly sought-after real estate, with many of the smaller retro-type clothing and vintage stores making way for new venues and some chain restaurants.