From the archives – the #SaracensHeadHotel on #BourkeStreet Up from Elizabeth was created 1875 by adding a floor to the 1847 original. Basically a typical Italianate form, but the arches are (just) keyhole arches, there’s a couple of crescent motif finials, and a pair of #oniondome ones, and an actual Saracen’s head. The first photo was taken c1950 for #MaieCasey’s seminal 1953 book Early Melbourne Architecture, but only a few years later in a photo from @heraldsunphoto_retro from 1958 when it closed it had lost some details, though not the actual Saracens Head. It was altered again probably not long after to become shops, losing the ground floor completely and perhaps the parapet, but the details that remain are unusual, if you look closely. Third photo @cityofmelbourne, and details from just this week (by Graeme Butler). We’re lucky to have anything at all, since the #StateBankofVictoria bought it in the 20s for possible future expansion, but it wasn’t needed for the 30s building or the current CommBank that replaced it in the early 1980s. Surprisingly this is one of the few Victorian buildings in the CBD not heritage listed.

Update August 2023: it’s now for sale.

• Uncategorized