Carlo Catani and Alexandra Avenue: The Making of a European Promenade in Colonial Melbourne

Abstract

Alexandra Avenue, designed by Florentine immigrant Carlo Catani, was declared open in 1901 in Melbourne by the Duke and Duchess of York, as part of the celebrations marking the Federation of Australia. The ornamental boulevard was an object of wonder. Following the European tradition, counter to English ideas of propriety, it was to be a promenade where people would go to see and be seen. In the mould of American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Catani was an expert generalist, responsible for a wide range of landscape and engineering projects in Victoria, on whom little scholarship exists. The Avenue greatly influenced street aesthetics in inner Melbourne and was later used as an exemplar of urban streetscape at the inaugural Australian Town Planning Conference in 1918. It provides an insight into how urban landscapes were formed before specialist planners and demonstrates the way in which colonial cities such as Melbourne created an identity through their public spaces. This article enriches current scholarship on Catani – a significant influence on the city of Melbourne at the turn of last century.