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    Hero Apartments, 118 Russell Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
    The BuildingsRUSSELL STREET

    Hero Apartments

    ArchitectCommonwealth Department of Works
    Completed1954
    StyleInterwar Functionalist
    The building

    Hero Apartments was built in 1948-54 as the Russell Street Automatic Telephone Exchange and Postal Building, designed by the Commonwealth Department of Works, the federal government's own public-works office. It held a public postal hall and the automatic equipment switching thousands of Melbourne telephone lines. From 1999 to 2001 the architect Nonda Katsalidis, then practising as Nation Fender Katsalidis, converted it to apartments and added six storeys above the original roof.

    In brief

    1. 1948Construction begins on the Russell Street Automatic Telephone Exchange and Postal Building
    2. 1954Completed and opened, the first large building finished in central Melbourne since 1940
    3. 2001Converted to apartments, with six storeys added above the original roof
    The record

    What has sold at Hero Apartments.

    Sales recorded
    Four
    Range
    $680,000 – $1,660,000

    401/118 Russell Street, Melbourne VIC 3000

    $1,530,000

    1103/118 Russell Street, Melbourne VIC 3000

    $935,000

    701/118 Russell Street, Melbourne VIC 3000

    $1,660,000

    811/118 Russell Street, Melbourne VIC 3000

    $680,000

    The doorstep

    Three places within a short walk.

    What each one is, and how far it is from the front door. Select a place to see it on the map.

    1
    Nature569 m · 7 min walk
    Birrarung Marr
    The city's first major new parkland in a century, terraced down to the Yarra with a Wurundjeri name meaning river of mists.
    2
    Dining316 m · 4 min walk
    Florentino
    The upstairs Mural Room has been a grand Italian dining institution since the 1930s, its frescoes National Trust-classified.
    3
    Character252 m · 3 min walk
    The Melbourne Athenaeum
    Founded in 1839, it housed the city's first library and gallery and still runs a subscription library above Collins St.
    For buyers

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    From The Journal

    Hero Apartments in The Journal

    Browse The Journal →

    Hero Apartments, 118 Russell Street

    Built in 1954 to switch a city's calls without operators, the Russell Street telephone exchange became Hero Apartments in 2001 — six Corten storeys taller.

    Read the piece →