Original post 29 June 2020 Great shot from @heraldsunphoto_retro of the Prudential Building, cnr Bourke & Queen only just demolished late last year; you can see the other 3 corners of this intersection are vacant, ready for the mid rise office buildings all constructed in 1960-63, three of them, like this one, by #BatesSmartMcCutcheon, this … Continue reading Prudential, Bourke Street, 1960. →

Original post 29 June 2020 #TolarnoHotel in #StKilda is actually a fine example of #midcenturymodern, but even though the place is on the #VictorianHeritageRegister, exactly when it was built and who designed it isn’t recorded by them; it’s a totally an addition to the front of a guest house, itself converted from an 1884 house … Continue reading Tolarno Hotel, St Kilda →

Original post 28 June 2020 The #DisplayBlock in #LittleCollinsStreet was an unusual response to the highly central site - it was built in 1921 as vertical shops, with only display cases on the ground level, advertising the 20 business upstairs (by ‘rapid lift’), all devoted to women’s wear, milliners, lingerie, dressmakers etc. Some of it … Continue reading Display Block, 1921 →

Original post 27 June 2020 Did you know there was an earlier design for #FlindersStreetStation ? I did but I’d forgotten what it looked like - so here it is from the Illustrated Australian News on 16 May 1883. It won a design competition, and clearly the idea was to have east and west trains … Continue reading Flinders Street Station, the forgotten 1883 competition →

June 2020 The octagonal domed space where the #BlockArcade makes it’s right angle is one of the loveliest Victorian spaces in Melbourne, and hard to photograph (my #MomentLens wide angle phone attach only just gets it). I found a great photo showing it, with ‘The Redfern House’ ladies tailor, and the tearoom of the Ladies … Continue reading The beautiful Block Arcade →

Original post 21 June 2020 #YuleHouse, designed by #OakleyAndParkes, was built in 1932, in the depths of the #GreatDepression, because the previous building burnt down, and the insurance paid out. Sometimes said to be the first #ArtDeco building in Melb, it’s the first fully Art Deco complete with speed lines, deco lettering and stepped bits, … Continue reading Yule House, 1932 →

Original post 18 June 2020 Lots of excellent #brickwork on the #CorpsOfSignals #DrillHall, #SouthMelbourne, 1935-6, designed by Commonwealth architect #GeorgeHallandal. The whole design manages to be both impressive yet domestic in scale, and also both classical in a rather Georgian / #Lutyens kind of way, but also #ArtDeco. A couple of years ago it was … Continue reading Corps of Signals Drill Hall, Albert Park, 1936. →

Original post 18 June 2020 This is St Joseph’s Church in #QuarryHill, #Bendigo, designed by #BatesSmart, and built in 1964, and i think it’s possibly the best minimalist modernist church in Victoria...but I’ve only got these photos from the Bates Smart book, and streetview ...so if anyone’s in Bendigo or going soon or knows it, … Continue reading Minimalist modern church, St Jospehs, Quarry Hill, Bendigo, 1964 →

Original post 16 June 2020 Would you believe the State Government is selling a site on Flinders Street that would result in the #GasAndFuelBuilding Mk 2 ? Having demolished one of Melbourne's biggest planning mistakes in 1996, the sale of the strip of railway land at the other end on Spring Street with only the … Continue reading Gas & Fuel all over again ! →

Original post 15 June 2020 Images 6 September 2019 #Oberwyl, Burnett Street, #StKilda, 1856. Described as #Regency, as seen in the fine proportions and delicate detailing, though more columns and elaboration than the English originals (would have been even more charming with the upper level #verandah that I’m assuming was once there, presumably #castiron, though … Continue reading Oberwyl, St Kilda, 1856 →