St Paul's Cathedral is built on the site where the first public Christian service in Melbourne was conducted in 1835.The block was then a government reserve far from the centre of town to the west, and used as a corn market. By 1848 the site was then adjacent to the first Princes Bridge across the Yarra, and the prominent site was granted to the Anglican Church.The bluestone Church of St Paul the Apostle was consecrated in 1852.Nearly 30 years later with the huge growth of the city and Swanston Street becoming a major thoroughfare, the diocese decided to build a grand cathedral on the site to supersede the 1839 St James Old Cathedral located in the western end of the CBD.