List of tallest buildings in Melbourne

Melbourne is home to approximately 758 completed high-rise buildings. Of those completed and topped-out, 79 are defined as "skyscrapers" – buildings which reach a height of at least – more than any other city in Australia. Overall, Melbourne's skyline ranks as the tallest in the Oceania region and the 24th tallest in the world by the number of completed skyscrapers. Melbourne comprises five of the ten tallest buildings in Australia and the city has routinely hosted the tallest building in Australia to architectural feature or roof., the tallest building in Melbourne is the 100-storey Australia 108, which stands in height; whilst being the second-tallest building in Australia, it is the tallest to roof.
Geographically, most of Melbourne's tallest skyscrapers are concentrated in the central business district ; however, other locations of prominent skyscrapers and tall buildings in Melbourne include Box Hill, Carlton, Docklands, Southbank, South Melbourne, South Yarra and St Kilda Road. The CBD, defined by a grid of streets known as the Hoddle Grid, has a historically low central shopping area with a high rise cluster in the western financial district and another in the eastern end. Buildings are more densely packed in the west than the east, although the latter has some of the CBD's tallest buildings to architectural feature – 120 Collins Street and 101 Collins Street, respectively – whilst the West Side Place Tower A, located in the western district, is taller to roof. In the 2010s, another skyscraper cluster rose in the northern section, which contains the CBD's tallest building, Aurora Melbourne Central.
Historically, Melbourne has been associated with several architectural milestones and building height records in Australia. During a brief skyscraper boom from 1888 to 1892, the city was one of the first in the world to build numerous tall office buildings, alongside New York City and Chicago in the United States. This period produced the APA Building, which was among Australia's first high-rise and its tallest at the time.
Melbourne later played an important role in post-war high-rise development with the construction of ICI House in 1958, widely regarded as Australia's first modern skyscraper. From 1986 to 2005, the city hosted Australia's tallest buildings in succession: the Rialto Towers, 101 Collins Street and 120 Collins Street., Melbourne has been the location of the second-tallest buildings in the country – Eureka Tower and Australia 108 – both of which have maintained the title of tallest building in Australia measured to roof height, and surpassed in overall height only by Q1 on the Gold Coast.

History and specifications

19th century

The late 1880s land boom saw the construction of 11 "lofty edifices" of 8 to 10 floors, made possible by the introduction of a pressurised hydraulic power network to operate lifts, and taking load bearing brickwork to great heights. The APA Building, at 12 floors topped with a spire, was by far the tallest, and can claim to be Australia's first skyscraper and amongst the tallest high-rise buildings in the world when completed in 1889. Other skyscrapers located in the city centre during this period included the Finks Building and 3 matching "Prell's Buildings". They were mostly built in an elaborate High Victorian style, with facades of stucco Renaissance Revival elements, with a deviation being the APA building which was in red brick Queen Anne, prompting architectural historian Miles Lewis to comment that Melbourne had become a "Queen Anne Chicago". All except two were torn down in the post war boom of the 1960s and 1970s, with the APA controversially demolished in 1981.

20th century

Following much discussion, a height limit was introduced to Melbourne in 1916, along with regulations concerning fire-proof construction. This height is often said to have been the limit of fire ladders at the time, but this was an idea that the then fire chief allowed to be widely circulated even though the tallest ladder rose to only, in order to ensure that fire safety was paramount. The main reasons for the limit, as well as fire proofing, were the preservation of light and air to the streets, avoiding congestion, and the influence of the City Beautiful movement, preferring evenly scaled streetscapes over those with buildings of varying heights. The height limit remained in force for nearly 40 years, allowing only uninhabited architectural features to project beyond the 40 metre limit. The Manchester Unity Building, for instance, achieved a total height of to the top of its corner tower.
Melbourne was the first city in Australia to undergo a post-war high-rise boom, which began in the late 1950s, with over 50 high-rise buildings constructed between the 1970s and 1990s. ICI House was constructed after being granted a variation to the height limit; at a height of, the building was Australia's first International-style high-rise. Its variation was on the basis that the design included an open garden space at ground level, introducing the concept of floor area ratio, where a total allowable floor area is used instead of a specific height limit. This was formalised by "plot ratios" of 1:8 to 1:12 for different areas of the CBD in the "Borrie Report" in 1964, which was modified into a series of "plot ratio benefit" schemes in the early 1980s, where the upper level of floor area could only be achieved in return for certain public benefits, such as a public arcade. Plot ratios remained in force for every site until 1999, when the "New Format" Planning Scheme included plot ratios for entire city blocks rather than individual sites, a control that was mostly ignored.
In 1972, 140 William Street became Melbourne's first building to surpass the height of, and thus, Melbourne's first "skyscraper". BHP House was the city's tallest for a few years, and remains one of the few heritage registered skyscrapers in Melbourne. Slightly taller, the Optus Centre was completed in 1975, and then in 1977, Nauru House became the tallest building in Melbourne, at a height of. In 1978, what would be the first of two Collins Place towers opened at a height of.
By the early 1980s, Melbourne had a total of 6 buildings above, with the completion of the Wentworth Hotel at Collins Place in 1980. In 1986, the Rialto Towers surpassed Sydney's MLC Centre as the tallest building in both Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, with a height of. At the time of its opening, it was the 25th-tallest building in the world. The 1990s brought Melbourne another 9 buildings over, 5 of which exceeded heights of. Specifically, 1991 saw the construction of the 101 Collins Street, which became the tallest building in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere; it was surpassed in height later that year with the completion of the nearby 120 Collins Street. The skyscraper, which stands at in height, held the titles for tallest building in Australia and in the Southern Hemisphere for fourteen years, until the completion of the Gold Coast's Q1 in 2005.

21st century

During the 2000s, over 20 high-rise structures were completed, including the Eureka Tower, which overtook 120 Collins Street as the tallest building in Melbourne, and further became the second-tallest in Australia. Eureka Tower was also the tallest residential building in the world to roof, until surpassed by Ocean Heights and the HHHR Tower in Dubai. It is currently the 15th-tallest apartment building in the world.
Construction trends significantly increased throughout the 2010s, which included the completion of Prima Pearl and Aurora Melbourne Central, both of which exceed in height. Throughout the decade, the city experienced an "unprecedented" skyscraper construction boom, with 22 skyscrapers constructed between 2010 and 2019. This feat had been described as the "Manhattanization of Melbourne".
During this period, new towers in the CBD had average plot ratios of 37:1. In September 2015, the Minister for Planning, Richard Wynne, introduced a 12-month height limit of approximately for all buildings proposed in the Melbourne central business district and segments of Southbank, along with interim planning laws that re-introduced a floor area ratio of 18:1, which could be exceeded up to a maximum of 24:1 only with the provision of certain public benefits. Should projects exceed the plot ratio, developers will need to make a special case to the Minister, outlining the proposal's state significance. These controls were made permanent in September 2016. Buildings proposed prior to September 2015, such as Australia 108, which has a plot ratio of 46.6:1, were exempt from the new law.
The beginning of the 2020s saw the completion of Australia 108, which surpassed Eureka Tower as the tallest building in Melbourne and the tallest building in Australia to roof in 2020. It also became the Southern Hemisphere's first skyscraper to comprise at least 100 floors, and Melbourne's first building to be defined as a "supertall" skyscraper. In 2021, 12 skyscrapers were completed in the city – five more than the previous peak in 2020, and more than double the prior peaks in 2017, 2005 and 1991. Among the tallest built in 2021 were West Side Place Tower A and Queens Place North Tower, both of which exceed in height. Of future skyscrapers, 6 have topped-out, 7 are under-construction, over 20 have received approval, and another few have been proposed. The tallest of these is the currently approved dual-skyscraper project STH BNK by Beulah. Tower 1 will rise to in height – supplanting Australia 108 as the tallest building in Melbourne and Q1 as the tallest building in Australia – whilst Tower 2 will rise to, taller than any other completed building in Australia outside of Melbourne and the Gold Coast.
The proliferation of skyscrapers in Australia over the past decades has also contributed to the city rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne. Whilst the first skyscraper in Australia was constructed in Sydney in 1967, Melbourne has had the most skyscrapers in the country and indeed within Oceania, for over 35 years in total; from 1972 to 1989, from 1991 to 1999, in 2006, and again .

Precincts

Precinct of Melbourne
Carlton	1	0	0	0	0	0
City Centre	58	0	3	0	7	2
Docklands	2	0	1	0	1	0
Port Melbourne	0	0	0	0	1	0
Southbank	16	0	2	0	12	3
South Melbourne	0	0	0	0	3	0
South Yarra	1	0	0	0	0	0
St Kilda Road	1	0	0	0	0	0
Total	79	0	6	0	24	5

The CBD skyline constitutes two distinct sections: the east and west, divided by Swanston Street. The tallest buildings on the eastern side of the skyline are 120 Collins Street and 101 Collins Street, whilst the tallest on the western side are the West Side Place Tower A, Rialto Towers and Premier Tower.
Significant new skylines have emerged outside of the CBD, especially within the inner-city suburb of Southbank. This precinct, located adjacent to the City Centre, includes some of the tallest buildings in Melbourne, such as Australia 108, Eureka Tower and Prima Pearl.
South Yarra, St Kilda Road and Carlton each comprise a skyscraper. Other inner-city suburbs such as Port Melbourne, South Melbourne and Box Hill each have skyscrapers in proposed or approved stages of development.

Functions

Most of Melbourne's skyscrapers constructed by the 1990s were built for commercial purposes – specifically, used as offices, with 88% being designated as office space. Exceptions to this include the mixed-use building Sofitel Hotel on Collins Place, and the all-hotel Crown Towers in Southbank. Melbourne's first residential skyscrapers were constructed in 2005, with two built that year. By 2010, 72% of skyscrapers built in Melbourne were of commercial use, 12% residential, 12% mixed-use and 4% hotel. The trend towards residential skyscrapers has continued significantly; in 2015, 58% of skyscrapers within the city were of commercial use, 26% residential, 13% mixed-use and 3% hotel. These figures were set to change dramatically by 2020; when factoring the buildings that were still under-construction, 44% of the city's skyscrapers were to be of residential use, 35% commercial, 18% mixed-use, 2% hotel and 2% government.

Tallest buildings

Overall

Melbourne has 79 skyscrapers completed or topped out, which stand at least tall based on standard height measurement. Such measurement includes spires and architectural details, but does not include antenna masts. An equal sign following a rank indicates the same height between two or more buildings. An asterisk indicates that the building is still under construction, but has topped out. The "built" column indicates the year in which a building was completed.
Height: S = Spire, R = Roof.

Tallest buildings by precinct

This lists the tallest building in each precinct of Melbourne based on standard height measurement.

Tallest buildings by function

This lists the tallest buildings in Melbourne by their respective functions – office, hotel, residential and mixed-use – based on standard height measurement.

Skyscrapers at least 200 metres in height

, Melbourne comprises 30 skyscrapers that reach a height of at least – more than any other city within Australia and Oceania. Of those, 23 are located within the City Centre, 6 within Southbank, and 1 in Carlton.

Historical tallest buildings

This section lists the ten tallest buildings in Melbourne at the start of every decade beginning with 1990. By 1980, all buildings within the top-10 listing reached over a height of ; in 1995, the threshold increased to ; and again in 2015, to.

Tallest under construction or approved

This is a list of currently topped out, under construction, or approved skyscrapers set for Melbourne.

Topped out

Under construction

On hold

Approved

Major cancelled, revised, or vision projects

This is a list of cancelled, revised or vision skyscraper proposals that were previously set for Melbourne.

Revised

Cancelled

Vision

Timeline of tallest buildings

This lists buildings that once held the title of "tallest building in Melbourne".

Name	Image	Years as tallest	Height	Floors	Notes
Yorkshire Brewery Tower		1876–1888		8
Fink's Building		1888		10	Partially demolished in 1897 due to fire
Federal Coffee Palace		1888–1889		9	Height to roof . Demolished in 1972.
The Australian Building		1890–1932		12	Tallest building in Australia. Demolished in 1980.
Manchester Unity Building		1932–1958		13
Orica House		1958–1962		20	Tallest building in Australia
CRA Building		1962–1969		26	Demolished in 1988
AMP Square		1969–1971		28
Marland House		1971–1972		32
140 William Street		1972–1975		41
Optus Centre		1975–1977		34
Nauru House		1977–1978		52
ANZ Tower at Collins Place		1978–1986		56	Equal-tallest building in Melbourne with Sofitel Hotel at Collins Place from 1980 to 1986
Sofitel Hotel at Collins Place		1980–1986		50	Equal-tallest building in Melbourne with ANZ Tower at Collins Place
Rialto Towers		1986–1991		63	Tallest building in Australia, tallest building in Australia to roof
101 Collins Street		1991		50	Tallest building in Australia
120 Collins Street		1991–2006		52	Tallest building in Australia
Eureka Tower		2006–2020		91	Tallest building in Australia to roof
Australia 108		2020–present		100	Tallest building in Australia to roof