Worth an exception of leading with old photo because #damntrees – another fabbo confection by noted flat designer #ArthurPlaisted, this time a crazy battlemented thing called ‘Castle Towers’ in #MarneStreet #SouthYarra, one of the very few ‘elevator flats’ built in Melbourne before WW2, though at 5 floors not exactly highrise. Crazy plan, sort of curved inward with lots of ins and outs so every room has lots of windows, and there’s a rooftop garden, and a proper reception /foyer. Originally #creambrick. Famous in archi-circles cos #RobinBoyd gave it a ‘blot’ in Melb Uni student archi mag Smudges in June 1941 calling it ‘ridiculous from an aesthetic viewpoint’ – and Plaisted reacted by suing the mag for £3000 for bringing him into ‘public odium and contempt’ (though cant find a single newspaper mention of all this, info from Serle’s Boyd bio) but he was satisfied with a printed apology that the criticism was solely ‘from an artistic point of view’ and not about utility or soundness. Phew ! Anyway, I love it, it is a bit risible, but perfectly livable, just need to thin out this trees and get the paint off.
