The fire occurred at the height of the land boom of the 1880s, when Melbourne grew enormously and many large and elaborate hotels shops and office blocks rose in the city. The fire allowed the City Property & Co Pty Ltd (principle shareholder Benjamin Fink), to proceed with plans to create a sumptuous arcade on this central site, hiring architects Twentyman & Askew to design it, announced in January 1890, with the name 'The Block' revealed soon after. The Collins Street leg was built first, which was completed by late 1891, to little fanfare, with the grand opening of the whole arcade on 7 October 1893.