The Block Arcade is a historic shopping arcade in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Constructed between 1891 and 1893, it is considered one of the late Victorian era's finest shopping arcades and ranks among Melbourne's most popular tourist attractions.
Image: Melbourne Block Arcade 2014
Image: Block Arcade Collins Street
An 1880 illustration by Samuel Thomas Gill shows Melburnians "doing the Block"
The Block Arcade forms an 'L' shape around Alston's Corner.
An arcade is a succession of contiguous arches, with each arch supported by a colonnade of columns or piers. Exterior arcades are designed to provide a sheltered walkway for pedestrians; they include many loggias, but here arches are not an essential element. An arcade may feature arches on both sides of the walkway. Alternatively, a blind arcade superimposes arcading against a solid wall.
Norman blind arcade, Ely Cathedral
Arcades of the Colosseum (AD 70s) from the outside
Arcades inside the Mosque of Uqba, also known as the Great Mosque of Kairouan, in Tunisia (670). There is no vaulting; the arches are bridged by wooden beams
These arcades in Córdoba were begun in the 780s; Some are topped by beams, others by barrel vaults.
