New chapter awaits iconic century-old Bourke Street bookstore's former home
The next chapter is unfolding in the historic former home of Melbourne’s oldest bookstore. After more than a century of trade, the Hill of Content was so cherished by readers that hundreds formed a human chain when it farewelled 86 Bourke Street last month.
For the first time in 103 years, the high-profile three-level site next door to Grossi Florentino is available to rent, lending itself to a whole new industry as a potentially cool new bar in the heart of the bustling Bourke Hill precinct of the CBD.
Listed for lease through Jones Real Estate, price expectations for the 425-square-metre building on a 141-square-metre site range between $280,000 and $295,000 per annum.
Beyond the heritage facade’s exceptional street presence surrounded by hotels, restaurants and premium retail, leaseholders will encounter a light-filled and generous internal space with an original timber staircase suiting flagship retail, wider hospitality, showroom, or pursue creative uses.
This opportunity to repurpose a heritage-listed piece of Melbourne’s literary past follows the sale of the iconic property for $5.3 million last year.
In July, around 300 people formed a human chain to help the bookshop move its 17,000 books a short 120-metre journey to the new location at 32 Bourke Street.
Bookstore owners Diana and Duncan Johnson enlisted the help after being inspired by a customer’s tale of a bookstore’s relocation in Michigan, US.
The Hill of Content claims to have traded since 1922, a post-war time when ornate banks and theatres dominated the skyline.
Close to the Exhibition Street intersection between Spring Street, the unique slim building boasts more than 5.5 metres of Bourke Street frontage and dual rear access via Mornane Street. The site’s appeal is bolstered by excellent public transport connections, including trams in Bourke Street and Parliament station, just a four-minute walk away.
Jones Real Estate executive agent Oscar Sturm says it has a retro feel with original elements like a patterned ceiling and an original staircase.
A single tenant is preferred for all three levels, he adds, making the property appeal to a niche market, particularly suiting hospitality businesses.
“We’re talking to a few food beverage establishments that might be open to taking it. It could be a pretty cool bar,” says Sturm.
Benny Goh, senior property manager at Jones Real Estate, says the landmark site boasts a legacy of more than a century as a cultural destination.
“It now provides an extraordinary platform for a new tenant to establish themselves in one of Melbourne’s most prestigious city precincts, with all the charm of its heritage character and the flexibility of a modern fit-out.”
The Hill of Content bookstore, initially established by Albert Henry Spencer, is of local historical and aesthetic significance, according to the City of Melbourne.
“The choice of noted architects Peck and Kempter to design the building, emphasises the owner’s ambitions for the business, and desire at the time for a ‘modern book store’,” a council document details.
“The Hill of Content bookstore is also of aesthetic significance, as a handsome and largely externally intact retail building of the late 1920s. It is a narrow, elegantly proportioned building, which exhibits an abstract or understated interwar classical expression, enhanced by finely executed details. While the shopfront and verandah have been altered, this is not unusual for an historic retail building, where the facade to the upper levels remains largely intact.”
