Just got a 1983 book on Australian 😁#castironlace (from Sydney so I’d never heard of it) so of course I’m checking it out, there’s this one short street in south melb, ward st, near the market, lined with two storey terraces, not all the same design, but about half have the same cast iron, a particularly sinuous one, with a bold circle, more open than most, with an almost geometric freeze below, and a typical #rinceau one above. One of them clearly broke one and so just spaced them spaced out, not the same effect at all. Two are of course black because that’s the popular colour since c2000, sort of nice but you can’t see the detail. One of the terraces says 1883, but the design 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.

• victorian