First posted 1 February 2020

While I’m on #lostmelbourne, there’s the famous ones, but there were quite a lot of ornate #highvictorian ‘chambers’ like this that mushroomed in the 1880s and disappeared in the 50s-70s, mostly with only a few photos now in archives – and @heraldsunphoto_retro has a great collection slowly filling up their insta with more like this one – Oxford Chambers, which was replaced by the now heritage listed Eagle House in Bourke up from Queen in 1971. It was built in 1889, designed by #EllerkerAndKilburn (famous for the #CityOfMelbourneBuilding which is also QueenAnne), with the ubiquitous #WilliamPittArchitect. It’s later history is interesting too, from the herald post, it was fully leased in 1891, mostly empty in 1894 following the crash, then by 1900 the one room offices were mostly residential and mostly women, including #VidaGoldstein! Then Eagle Insurance bought it in 52, converted back to office, adding two floors and rendering the ground floor, then replaced it in 71. Photos 1950 (herald), 1943, 1966 (both @library_vic)

• victorian