r/melbourne • u/Appropriate-Put5871 • Jun 13 '26
THDG Need Help Massive billboard slapped onto Victorian terraces near Richmond Station. What's the story here? Do people actually live there?
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u/ThrowRA-4545 Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
You could say a lot of people have come and gone there.
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u/SlayyyGrl Jun 13 '26
Do you mean a lot of people have gone and come there?
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u/De-railled Jun 13 '26
🤣 thankyou for clarification. From the " gone" I thought that a lot of previous tenants died there or something strange.
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u/psrpianrckelsss Jun 13 '26
Quite a bit of in and out
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u/futtbuckicecreamery Jun 14 '26
Jerry Seinfeld voice: what's the deal with cum?! You're not going anywhere!
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u/whoorderedsquirrel Jun 13 '26
Knock shop was next door at 339-341
I worked there back in the day, made a killing on footy nights and used to go out clubbing afterwards and slink in the back door when the cleaner would get there at 0700. Absolutely beautiful rooms at the time and had a real old school brothel vibe, super high ceilings
Got a fine from the boss once for opening the window in the black room (each room had a colour : red, pink, peach, black, blue, green) and letting a client bend me over the sill, she drove past and saw me hanging out the window and spit chips 😂😂😂😂
It closed in 2013. A sugar daddy I had investigated buying it after I begged him but a bunch of it was heritage listed, heaps of structural damage and was gonna be a huge fuck around. Ironic. I guess there is a wrong line of fuck around lol
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u/isle_of_broken_memes Jun 14 '26
I'd never heard knock shop before I assumed it was like a mechanic. The way this progressed from that given that assumption gave me whiplash 😄
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u/NoodleBox Ballarat (but love Melbs) Jun 14 '26
I also hadn't heard it! I knew that bit of town had those places, but, "knock shop" - i assumed illegal smokes and booze (rofl)
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u/isle_of_broken_memes Jun 14 '26
Oohh that's also a fair assumption haha.
And now I want noodlebox ffs 😄
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u/whoorderedsquirrel Jun 14 '26
For a long time a bunch of my hoe friends and I had facebook accounts that all said we worked at Kennards or Howard's Storage World cos we sold a lot of box 😂 never thought about noodlebox!!
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u/isle_of_broken_memes Jun 15 '26
"Hoe friends" 😆
My noodle box comment was actually in reference to the Users username, to whom I was replying, but now you mention it one could use it as a wildly crass name for vagina hahaha. Didn't even occur to me on writing it
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u/Ok-Patient8571 Jun 16 '26
Wow have you kids been living under rocks ? 'Punters' go to the 'knock shop' for a quick 'rub & tug' from the prossie & hope they don't leave with a 'dose of the clap'! 🤣
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u/NoodleBox Ballarat (but love Melbs) Jun 16 '26
hahaha I knew the other ones! Just knock shop was new to me!
I'll ask Ma, maybe I have heard of it but haven't...paid attention
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u/commeconn Jun 13 '26
I misread your username and thought it was a reference to that line of work.
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u/whoorderedsquirrel Jun 13 '26
Imagine it being shouted across a kitchen by an exasperated chef
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u/BilliverRemfus Jun 13 '26
Or Frank in Always Sunny. He does like banging whoores.
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u/thatredlad Jun 14 '26
After Roxy died, his new hoor was a redhead nicknamed Squirrel because of her affinity for nuts.
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u/Reddit-or_ Jun 13 '26
Her name was squirrel so I think it still is.
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u/Suspicious-Bad4499 Jun 13 '26
one of the most interesting comments I've seen on here, I imagine you have done great stories
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u/melbournematte Jun 14 '26
Many years ago a friend who was separated from her baby daddy lived near a knock shop. The ex was jealous and a bit stalker-ish, and would park half a block from her place to keep a lookout for .. other men, I suppose. One day, he ended up getting a visit from the 'girls' who thought he was an ultra shy customer-to-be who needed some coaxing to enter their premises. We saw the exchange from upstairs and, after he zoomed off, we raced down to ask the 2 girls what happened. They said he turned bright red, spluttered some unintelligible words and hit the road as fast as fuck 🤣
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u/Nothingislefthalp anxious bean Jun 13 '26
You must have a books worth of stories. Great way with words, thanks for sharing!
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u/whoorderedsquirrel Jun 13 '26
I gotta wait for a bunch of people to die before I start publishing any of the cooked shit I've done 😂
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u/sikonat Jun 13 '26
Turn it into fiction with a pen name. Make it a crime novel where the main character solves a mystery ;) they can’t sue then
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u/JuanFoYoMamma Jun 14 '26
I know how you feel. My son is just turning 18yo. I'm unsure if he'd be impressed or horrified by my past antics. I think the latter, so I may have to take mine to the grave.
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u/AntikytheraMachines Jun 14 '26
write it. store it in safe deposit box. leave it to your great great great grandchildren, when they turn fifty.
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u/JuanFoYoMamma Jun 14 '26
Hm. Like the woman who just commented about her experiences, I can't believe my stories. I'm shocked by them, and I was there, it was me. I'm comfortable that I've never physically harmed anyone in the process, but wow, there has been all of the elements of a Quentin Tarantino trilogy. So much. Is there such a thing as over-living life? Not sure what I'm left to do.
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u/Ok-Patient8571 Jun 16 '26
Ha ha ditto! At least we can have a sneaky smirk to ourselves when people & places come up! I'm happy with that most days...
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u/whoorderedsquirrel Jun 14 '26
I have no kids but my nieces and nephews will learn just how cool/insane their aunt was when I cark it and they start going thru all the shit in my cupboards hahahah
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u/NobodysFavorite Jun 14 '26
Was that one of the things? Cooking a shit and doing something with it?
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u/Suspicious-Bad4499 Jun 13 '26
there's a book like this which is not a bad read, Come by Rita Therese
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u/Loose_Loquat9584 Jun 13 '26
I also recall there was a book by someone who worked in a brothel and also on Play School ( not at the same time), called There’s A Bear In There And He Wants Swedish.
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u/whoorderedsquirrel Jun 14 '26
Play School has windows....I'll take the arch
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u/sittingwithlutes414 Jun 14 '26
Was her name 'Trudi' or something? The camera crew used to make obscene gestures till she started giggling? Or so I heard.
Also, Fear of Flying by Erica Jong was a good perspective on an expensive American call girl.
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u/No-Bison-5397 Jun 14 '26
I tangentially knew blokes who rented it afterwards and for years they had drunks knocking on the back door at night
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u/IHeartMustard Jun 13 '26
Never visited one, but mad respect to you folks for doing God's work. Hope you made bank out of it!
Also lol at the boss seeing you hanging out the window 😂
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u/whoorderedsquirrel Jun 13 '26
She rang in and was like "I saw Squirrel hanging out that fucking window !!" She told me if I denied it she would get all the hookers topless and do a lineup 😂😂😂😂 Back in the day they used to be able to fine us for all sorts of dumb shit and we'd run up a tick we had to pay before we could get on the next week's roster. No stockings , fine. No shoes in the intro, fine. A client bumps into another client in the hallway, fine. No nail polish, fine. Leaving nose prints on the mirror above the bed, fine. Spray tan in the bathrooms, instant dismissal. So we'd stand in the back car park with a little portaloo camping toilet tent thing and spray tan each other then scurry back inside. Most girls didn't want to give up their money they sucked dick to get so they behaved but me and my best friend at the time were such a pair of dumb fuckers that I'm surprised the owner didn't lock us in a cupboard - I reckon they made more money off of us in fines for being shitheads so they kept us around hahaha.
They used to do this cool little cover story thing for us where they'd put money into our bank account the equivalent of whatever wage our cover story job had and we'd get paid the rest in cash. Having that "legit" income made getting a house , loans etc so much easier. I don't think any of the brothels do shit like that anymore
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u/IHeartMustard Jun 13 '26
Wow, you could probably write a whole book on this stuff. I'd read it! But why is the spray tan in the bathroom thing a problem for the owners?
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u/whoorderedsquirrel Jun 13 '26
Cos it's hard as fk to get off paint esp shitty landlord special paint and brothels love a DIY landlord special paint job!!!
I always wanted to make a coffee table book of all the passive aggressive signs that were put up around brothels 😂
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u/now_you_see Jun 14 '26
Did you take pictures of the signs? Would love to see them. I imagine you and your mate getting your kicks by responding using shitty 10cent biros that always run out of ink half way through the word lol.
Got a couple of mates that have worked quite a few of the places around town, fines don’t apply anymore…well, at least at the places that aren’t straddling the line between simply hiring those without working visas, cash-in-hand & actually bringing over girls with offers of massage/dancing work for great money, then charging them for travel & board, skimming the surface of sex trafficking.
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u/whoorderedsquirrel Jun 14 '26
Yes during COVID when everything shut down I went through about 15 old phones and hard drives and dug out 2500 odd photos of evidence 😂 including the passive aggressive signs. Lots of incriminating selfies and photos of room decor too
They were never allowed to fine girls after the SWA94 but lots of places still did. Now they just cap ur extras and charge u for lockers, staying overnight, n petty shit. But it's all decriminalized also, so now brothel owners can be dodgy like all the dodgy hospo small business owners and we all know how they obey OHS laws lol
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u/YAreYouLaughing Jun 14 '26
I wanna know more about the nose prints on the ceiling mirror 😂
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u/floxxy327 Jun 14 '26
She means the mirror hanging on the wall above the headboard.
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u/Different_Story_9981 Jun 13 '26
Its changed so much. I didn’t start till 2015 and in some ways I felt I’d already missed the best. Now? Crazy hard
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u/whoorderedsquirrel Jun 13 '26
Girrrrl the day these fkin blokes thought kissing & BBBJ was on the menu together for an extra pineapple I knew we were fucked as a species !! just tell me u wanna lick some other dudes kids out of my mouth mate 😂😂the least they could do is offer a decent amount of money for it... Id still say no but id be less offended. it's a grim state of affairs out there now lol but still better than rooting them for free
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u/Terrible-Birthday853 Jun 14 '26
Please start an anonymous story board on here and spill the tea!!!! So interesting!!!!!
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u/HaterMD Jun 14 '26
My mum ran one back in the 90s. The way she talks you’d think it was the golden age. 😂
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u/spyduhgirl Jun 26 '26
Have you read Kate Holden's book - "In my skin". It's incredible, heartbreaking, poetic, nail biting and life changing. Highly recommend.
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u/Perfect-Bank2274 Jun 14 '26
Dated a woman who's flatmate said she was a receptionist at a brothel. Eventually, she opened up that she was actually a pro. We didn't really believe her at first, as she was prone to a little bit of shit talking.
But, she then showed us proof of the investment property she owned, and her savings account with $400,000! in it.
I don't know what happed to her in the long run, but seemed to have been smart with the money.
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u/Desperate-Impress374 Jun 14 '26
most brothels have more receptionists than workers 😉
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u/HaterMD Jun 14 '26
My mother was probably the only legitimate receptionist at a brothel ever. My grandma used to sit with her some afternoons, she found it all quite scandalising. I’d also sit in the kitchen (very far away from where the men came in) after school.
I had a weird childhood.
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u/Ok-Push9899 Jun 14 '26
My brother’s girlfriend said she used to be a receptionist at a brothel. X to doubt, but he believed it, and who am I to raise doubts?
She also said she was a burlesque dancer. So, yeah. If you were a stripper, wouldn’t you always say you were a dancer, and then a cabaret dancer, then a burlesque dancer, when pressed?
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u/Dizzy-Confection-551 Jun 14 '26
When i was an apprentice electrician the company I worked for used to do some electrical work there. (I wired up a red light out the back entrance). From memory the establishment catered mainly for business men during the daytime hours. The things I saw working there as a 17 yo.....Hoully doully!
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u/kiwigirl83 Jun 14 '26
I used to walk past every day and be so confused if it was housing or what. Took me far too long to realise it was a brothel lol. I was very innocent back then 😂
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u/thetopofabanana Jun 14 '26
apparently by the end it was beyond dilapidated.. holes in the walls… rats in the bathtubs .. pretty much impossible to renovate without serious investment
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u/whoorderedsquirrel Jun 14 '26
I remember the staircase had serious structural issues and there was a lot of problems with the waterproofing cos each room had its own shower. The kitchen / laundry had an absolutely divine bluestone slate floor , all the rooms had huge mirrors , big raised platforms for the beds haha. My sugar daddy looked at it all and said, no dice 😂 because it sold to a non brothel owner the licence lapsed and I think once that brothel permit lapsed they would never have been allowed a new one cos of its proximity to all the schools n shit that came after the brothel did. It was one of the first to be licensed when the original brothel laws came in in the 80s
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u/alphabet-cereal Jun 19 '26
I swear I’ve heard a very similar story from one of my nursing colleagues 😂
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u/areyoureadyable Jun 13 '26
I have a relative who lived next door in the early 00s! Lots of traffic noise. People knocked on their door at all hours, mistaking it for their neighbours. Cheap rent though.
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u/B_Thorn Jun 14 '26
I had similar experiences and came close to putting up a "NOT THE BROTHEL" sign on our door.
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u/glove88 Jun 13 '26
Brothels
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u/Chilled_Rouge Jun 13 '26
There must be a rear entrance right? Rocking in on that intersection could be considered a public stance. You've got a big audience.
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u/Prestigious_Pace2782 Jun 13 '26
Yep used to live next door and drunk horny dudes would occasionally come in the wrong back door
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u/B_Thorn Jun 14 '26
Used to live at an address that was one navigational error away from a brothel, and yeah, it results in some odd visitors and occasionally mail deliveries.
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u/myprivatehorror Jun 13 '26
I think this was the one that had the sign "Gentlemen come in the rear" wasn't it?
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u/Mystic303 Jun 14 '26
There was, other commenters have talked about sneaking into it early in the morning.
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u/SFW_Safe_for_Worms Jun 13 '26
Has it always been called Shakspeare Terrace? That seems like a weird typo to have etched into a house
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u/TheTeenSimmer Jun 13 '26
that or its now a utilities building.
or another thing is it could of been good money from the company that owns the board
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u/Green-Substance-4582 Jun 13 '26
It’s a brothel.
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u/Advanced_Couple_3488 Jun 13 '26
Hasn't been for years, now. Don't ask me how I know - it made the news when it was sold. I also saw the for sale notice on it when it was put up for sale.
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u/AggravatingBox2421 Jun 13 '26
I mean they’re legal, but I’m surprised to learn they’d be in historic buildings
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u/mpember Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
You can have a look for yourself:
1/335 (Downstairs)
2/335 (Upstairs)
1/337 (Downstairs)
2/337 (Upstairs)
The upstairs tenancies are accessed via a set of stairs at the rear of the property.
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u/Grammarhead-Shark Jun 13 '26
My memory is just probably mixing things up with another place, but i swear back in the day one of the brothels was famous for being decked out wall to ceiling in red! Lol
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u/Nothingislefthalp anxious bean Jun 13 '26
A commenter above mentioned each room had a colour theme so you’re onto something
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u/Tteokbokki- Jun 13 '26
I viewed one of the upstairs apartments about 8 years ago… It’s not a bad apartment, at least from what I remember.
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u/Georg_Steller1709 Jun 13 '26
They look surprisingly nice
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u/alchemicaldreaming Jun 13 '26
That building is, or was, a brothel. It was up for sale maybe ten years ago. The building is run down from memory and if it were vacant now, they might just be demolishing it by neglect. That said, I haven't been in that part of the world for some time, so things might have changed, or the brothel could still be operating from there.
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u/SpaceCadet_Cat Jun 13 '26
I walked past it several days over the last few years going between stations. The doors were open pretty often so something is going on.
Edit: ok, according to the post below it was converted to apartments. Doors are probably open to just be a laneway.
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u/alchemicaldreaming Jun 14 '26
Oh that's interesting, thank you for the update! It's definitely a central location and hopefully the renovations included some sound proofing.
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u/NobodysFavorite Jun 14 '26
The heritage listing / covenant is probably the reason no development has happened.
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u/ttrraavvyy Jun 13 '26
My mates were the first tenants in after they closed the brothel a couple of years ago! Their bedroom was behind that billboard, with an enclosed balcony between (you can still ‘see’ through the billboard).
They had a few instances of old clientele knocking on the back door (which is now the kitchen) looking for ‘services’
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u/FFootyFFacts Jun 13 '26
owner is probs getting min $20k pa for that Billboard
we got $50K for a Telstra Tower above the shops
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u/Economy_Alps_7772 Jun 13 '26
I used to live at 339! The one to the right of the billboard. This was a few years ago when it was a converted flatshare. It was a 5 bedroom house (as you can imagine - lots of bedrooms). Very cosy. Only found out it was a brothel when someone knocked on the back door asking if ‘it was still a brothel’ haha
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u/GrantandPhoebe Jun 14 '26
That’s been. Billboard for 30 years. It used to advertise a brothel and the sign used to read LADIES FOR GENTLEMEN - ENTRANCE AT REAR 🤣🤣
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u/stripeytee Jun 13 '26
I don’t know how true this is but my Year 11 Legal Studies teacher (back in 1990) told us they were all originally owner occupiers.
The first house to put a billboard up was taken to court by a group of the other owners in that section of Punt Road. The group lost and all had to sell their homes to cover legal fees. These houses were then bought by new owners/brothels who put billboards on their properties also.
Again I don’t know how true this is but hi Miss Gee if you’re reading this.
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u/marvnails Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
Just trying to imagine the confidence of taking a billboard to court. Losing, and realising if you just fucking left it all alone you wouldn't have lost your house to a fucking billboard.
I'm assuming they either didn't use a no win, no fee lawyer, or the losing party pays the legal fees in Aus?
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u/Delicious-Yak-1095 Jun 13 '26
You want to sit on a balcony on hoddle/punt Rd?
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Jun 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/luv_lee Jun 14 '26
Punt Road / Hoddle Street have been main thoroughfares since Melbourne was founded so they weren't exactly blindsided
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u/Lord-Phorse Jun 14 '26
Funniest thing is it’s been a billboard for years, and that Google blurred the face.
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u/BellerophonM Jun 13 '26
Amongst everything else, that building's always been a base for billboards for at least 30 years just from my personal experience, this isn't anything new.
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u/margarita-pizza Jun 13 '26
My friend rented the upstairs one on the right, about 6 years ago. Correct that are rear access stairs to get in, and the balcony is there but its obviously very dark!
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u/SticksDiesel Jun 13 '26
Isn't that the bordello?
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u/grocmartini Jun 14 '26
Lived in one of these after they were converted back to housing from the brothel for a little bit
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u/Pitiful_Host9918 Jun 14 '26
well known ‘wearing seatbelts place’, not ‘externally profound’ as daily planet, but position, position, 😎, that must have count,..🧐
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u/October_Skies00 Jun 14 '26
Is it the old Ladies for Gentlemen parlour? That was the first brothel I ever went too. Met someone who worked their as the receptionist and I was intrigued! I asked for a tour and she told me about the industry and how to get a brothel managers licence, which I did and then got a job ( at another establishment) Met some of the greatest women as a receptionist. Always supportive of sex workers and the industry. Great times and stories working in a brothel.
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u/tunderama Jun 13 '26
Landlords negotiate leases with the billboard companies - if there is tenants in there, I hope they’re getting a good break on the rent, or the owner is paying off their mortgage with those billboards.
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u/Burnt_Toast5962 Jun 13 '26
One of my friends lived in it as a share house in the 1990s. It was full of uni students. Rent was cheap because of the billboard. Let’s just say the living room at the front was very dark
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u/luneax Jun 14 '26
My partner used to live in executive carpet cleaning. Every morning you’d be woken by the train announcements
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u/Educational_Bend_862 Jun 14 '26
Was Ladies for Gentleman Brothel sold about 10 years ago. https://www.domain.com.au/news/punt-road-brothel-terraces-for-sale-20130919-2u0sv/
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u/Burgybabe Jun 14 '26
Yep, lived there in 2016 without knowing the history. Had a man break in the back entrance and take his clothes off and come into my room. $1000 fine and good behaviour. Upstairs neighbours were nice but had hardly any light due to the billboard. Cheap rent for a reason. Never again
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u/you-butfromthefuture Jun 14 '26
I had a friend who lived in one of these for years. out of frame to the left of the photo. It was a pre /post afterparty from thurs thru sun. not sure whether these are still occupied. he sold his due to the upkeep. they were starting to show their age and that was in the 2010s.
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u/s430c4g505m6 Jun 13 '26
I wonder what the story is behind the misspelling of “Shakespeare” in “Shakspeare Terrace”?
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u/B_Thorn Jun 14 '26
Not really a misspelling. Back in the Bard's time, there was no expectation that there was just one way to spell a name. In various documents he signs himself "Shaksper", "Shakspere", and "Shakspeare" as seen in the street name, as well as abbreviated versions like "Shakp".
Spelling started to standardise on "Shakespeare" from around the 1860s, but I think at the time Shakspeare Terrace was named that would still have been a legit spelling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling_of_Shakespeare%27s_name
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u/sirgarence Jun 13 '26
Yes! I’ve always wondered this too. Did some googling, came up with nothing. Maybe it was a poorly-literate stonemason?
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u/AlternateEntry Jun 13 '26
I lived in the house on the corner when I first moved out of home in ‘93! Given they’ve sealed up the back I’m guessing there are people living in the terraces. I know one used to be a brothel as we’d occasionally get drunks banging on our door thinking we were the brothel!
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u/QualityAdorable5902 Jun 14 '26
I think this every time I drive past! I’ve even googled to no avail.
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u/Rare_Pomegranate_384 Jun 14 '26
Back in 2013, I went to a rental inspection for the top place, 2/335 punt road. Surprisingly, it was light filled. You never would’ve known that the front half of the building was covered in a cockroach spray billboard!
There were at least 40 other people interested in the property and they wanted too much for it.
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u/dandyanddarling21 Jun 14 '26
There have been billboards on this building for at least 20 years, probably longer. There was a Thirsty Camel one of it at some stage.
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u/Heart_Makeup Jun 14 '26
It’s got loads of skylights so the billboard is probably providing some relief from traffic noise. (Talking about the top level 2/35 punt rd)
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u/ch3zzybg0gs Jun 15 '26
Literally wondered the same thing myself everytime I sit at the lights there 😂
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u/pancakedrawer_ Jun 15 '26
Can't make any changes to a heritage house without lengthy planning permit process but for some reason we can have a billboard on a heritage house. Got it.
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u/osintpwn Jun 17 '26
A friend used to live upstairs there. On top of a brothel. Can't have 2 storey brothels, too much fvcking overhead.
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