Spencer Street Power Station was a Victorian era

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

-fired power station

Power station

A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....

 which operated on Spencer Street

Spencer Street, Melbourne

Spencer Street is a major street in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is named for John Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer, Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom....

 in central Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Opened in 1892, it was closed in 1982 after being deemed an eyesore

Eyesore

An eyesore is an unpleasant view. Its technical usage is as an alternative perspective to the notion of landmark. Common examples include dilapidated buildings, graffiti, litter, polluted areas and excessive commercial signage such as billboards. Some eyesores may be a matter of opinion such as...

, and in 2006 demolition commenced.

History

Spencer Street Power Station was built by the City of Melbourne

City of Melbourne

The City of Melbourne is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central city area of Melbourne. The city has an area of 36 square kilometres and has an estimated population of 93,105 people. The city's motto is "Vires acquirit eundo" which means "She gathers strength as she...

 to supply electricity to the city. From 1941 the station came under the management of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria

State Electricity Commission of Victoria

The State Electricity Commission of Victoria was a monopoly electricity generation, transmission and supply utility located in Victoria, Australia...

 as part of the state electricity network. Progressive upgrades saw the capacity of the station rise to 109 MW by the 1960s, but newer power stations in the Latrobe Valley

Latrobe Valley

The Latrobe Valley is an inland geographical region and urban area of Gippsland in the state of Victoria, Australia. It is east of the City Of Melbourne and nestled between the Strzelecki Ranges to the south and the Great Dividing Range to the north – with the highest peak to the north of the...

 saw the station retained for peak use only.

Abandonment and demolition

After closure the power station sat empty awaiting redevelopment. In 2003 a man was arrested for painting the slogan 'No jobs on a dead planet' onto the chimney. A girl died in 2004 after falling down a seven metre hole inside the power station.

In May 2006 the site was sold for $7.6 million to Russian developers Vladimir Stepanov, Dmitri Bril and Oleg Mogilnitskiy, with asbestos

Asbestos

Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties. They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, thin fibrous crystals...

removal and demolition commencing soon after to allow the redevelopment of the site. The historic tower started being dismantled in September 2007 and the site was fully cleared in April 2008.