“Every artist knows someone who’s had a studio in the Nicholas Building,” says HideSeek. “It’s like a rite of passage for Melbourne’s creative community. The building may be a little bit decrepit, but the rent is cheap and it’s charmingly idiosyncratic … the array of occupants is dizzying.”
“Exploring its ten storeys is an unparalleled shopping adventure,” says Time Out, whose top picks in the building include RetroStar (a small department store for vintage clothes and accessories), Brendan Dwyer (bespoke cobbler), L’uccello (specialist haberdasher) and Mattt (studio and retailer for beautifully designed and crafted handmade satchels). “A fun piece of trivia,” adds Time Out: “this was the last building in town to have lift operators.”