Spring Street West between Little Bourke Street and Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, 1967, by K.J. Halla [photographer]
Details
Spring House was established by the Salvation Army in 1921. It was located on the corner of Spring and Lonsdale Streets, Melbourne. According to O'Hanlon, Spring House was one of a series of hostels built by the Salvation Army in state capital cities during the interwar period. Spring House closed in 1984.
O'Hanlon writes that at the official opening of Spring House in 1921, Lady Foster (wife of the Governor) spoke about the hostel:
There are far too many opportunities for evil and far too few opportunities for good, and I think it is in meeting that difficulty that … Hostels are the greatest boon we can confer upon the young people of our cities and towns'.
Commissioner Hay of the Salvation Army also spoke, saying that Spring House was intended as a place of shelter for 'the many unprotected girls in our midst'.
Spring House was larger than the Salvation Army's other hostel for young women, Allenby Lodge in Hawthorn. It could accommodate up to 170 women in single, double and dormitory rooms. O'Hanlon describes the accommodation:
Each floor, bar the basement, had a bathroom and toilet. The ground floor contained a dining room and the first floor a residents' lounge. The two upper floors also had a sewing room … There was also a roof-top garden, where residents could sit out or play games with fellow residents (O'Hanlon, 1999, p.122).
Location
- 1921 - 1984
- Address - Spring House was located in 215 Spring Street, Melbourne. Location: Melbourne
Sources used to compile this entry: O'Hanlon, Seamus, 'For the upholding of womanhood: Melbourne's interwar hostels for 'business girls' [Edited text of a lecture given to the Royal Historical Society of Victoria on 15 June 1999]', Victorian Historical Journal, vol. 70, no. 2, 1999, pp. 116-127; The Salvation Army Australia Southern Territory, 'Children's Homes: A list of openings, closings and function (submission 46)', in Inquiry into Institutional Care: Submissions received as at 17/03/05, Commonwealth of Australia, 2005, http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Completed_inquiries/2004-07/inst_care/submissions/sublist.
Prepared by: Cate O'Neill
Created: 1 May 2009, Last modified: 29 October 2018
Last updated: 7 August 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/vic/biogs/E000273b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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