Original post 19 December 2018:

As you know, I do love suburban #MockTudor shops (#OldEnglish is the proper name), and #ToorakVillage has the best examples. No 474-6, south side east end is the best one, dating from 1932, Built for William Ford chemists, and designed by #RobertHamilton, who said ‘I wanted to show the good Old English architecture is really good’. It’s not just some stuck-on #haltimbering, but carved woodwork, a big bay window topped by a gables#, diamond pane #leadlight windows, with window boxes etc.

There’s a great concentration of Tudor shops at that end, which are #heritagelisted, but not the rest of the strip, so a couple more of them miss out. Probably inspired by English or American examples, but just maybe they’re influenced directly by German old towns; apparently in cities like Frankfurt, they were going to clear out all the old stuff in the 20s, but people complained and instead encouraged restoration, and adding cutesy flower boxes, until by the 30s they were a tourist attraction. WW2 destroyed most of them ☹️ but in Frankfurt, they reconstructed some straight after, and just recently the #RomerDom precinct was rebuilt, with some exact reproductions like the last pic, others stylised. Looks great.

I’m told later it was Oggs Chemist.

• oldenglish