State Theatre (Melbourne) State Theatre (Melbourne) The State Theatre opened in 1984 and is part of the Arts Centre Melbourne located by the Yarra River and St Kilda Road. Like the other performance venues within the Arts Centre, the State Theatre is underground. The stage is one of the largest in the world. The State Theatre is typically used as a venue for ballet, opera and musical theatre. Companies performing opera in the State Theatre include Opera Australia (which has presented seven or eight operas each season). The first opera in the State Theatre was the new John Copley production of "Don Carlos",
Empire Building (Melbourne) Empire Building (Melbourne) The Empire Building was home to commercial, retail arcade with offices and showrooms over, in the city of Melbourne, Australia. It stands beside the Mutual Store building on the corner of Flinders and Degraves Streets, opposite Flinders Street station. The Empire Building and Mutual Store were redeveloped into a residential complex, completed in 2006. Originally known as the Empire Arcade, the building was designed by Nahum Barnet and constructed in 1906. It housed a variety of different uses, with a dead-end retail arcade at ground level and 'rooms' above, accommodating over the years the usual array of