Repost 2020: Just got the 1983 book Australian Iron Lace (published in Sydney so I’d never heard of it) and the first street I look at – Ward Street, South Melb, near the market – about half the terraces have the same cast iron, though the houses themselves are different. So clearly after the first one the next builder / owner said ‘I want the same’ (or possibly some /many or 80s in restorations, but same process). It’s a particularly sinuous and delicate one, with a bold circle, with an almost geometric freeze below, and a typical #rinceau one above. Two are of course black because that’s the popular colour these days, nice but you can’t see the detail. The design was registered in Sydney in 1881, but could be much earlier, the #foundries produced the same designs sometimes right through to 1900, often copied from English or sometimes French designs. In case you didn’t know Melbs has more decorative cast iron than any other place (yes more than Sydney, that’s what the Sydney book says so it much be true!), it’s just not as famous as New Orleans, and we rather take it for granted.
Storey of Melbourne 