St James's Street

Street guide, Portsea

St James's Street runs through Portsea connecting the Queen Street area to the southern parts of the district. The street is named after the former St James's Hospital, a medieval foundation that once stood in the area. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, St James's Street was part of the commercial and residential fabric of Portsea, with shops, houses and public houses serving the dockyard community. The street was damaged during the Second World War, though not as completely destroyed as some neighbouring roads. Some older buildings survive, giving the street a slightly more varied architectural character than the wholly rebuilt areas nearby. Today St James's Street contains a mixture of residential and commercial properties, and benefits from passing foot traffic between the transport interchange at The Hard and the Queen Street shopping area.