22 September 2017: This #massiveedifice of stonework was built on the corner of Collins & Queen Streets for National Mutual in 1891-3. Originally it stood alone and very vertical, since the queen street side was only 3 bays - it was more than doubled in matching style in 1911-13, designed by Gibbs & Finlay. At … Continue reading Gothic ‘skyscraper’, Collins Street →

11 May 2021 De Mont Rose, 1 Broadway, Elwood, 1934, an early project by #EsmondDorney, who would go on to do many like this, and many uniquely styled Art Deco blocks, in Elwood and adjacent burbs, and then totally unique houses in post WW2 Hobart. This one is 1920s eclectic, a bit Tudor, a bit … Continue reading Eclectic fun in Elwood →

Repost this day 2019: Looks so delicious in the afternoon sun - not only has Fareham and #Figsby in #RobeStreetStKilda got beautiful New Orleans style #castiron, it’s in lovely (and correct) chocolate brown and dull green, complementing the brickwork. Built 1867 and probably designed by the owner/builder William Allen, a very early example of #polychromebrick, … Continue reading Figsby & Fareham, Robe Street, St Kilda →

10 May 2025 This great shot by #MarkStrizic has been used to illustrate stories about #WhelanTheWrecker, but without saying what building it was - then I noticed the little shell under the window and yes it was Shell Corner, on the corner of Bourke & William Streets. Ha! (Update : @historyvictoria has some fine colour … Continue reading Shell Corner →

Another partial victory, repost this day 2019: All that’s left of #BurtonsLivery (1868, top floor 1887) is the facade, and 2m of side wall. Annoys me that by keeping and exposing the bit of side wall there’s a ‘three dimensional appearance’ which meets the letter of the anti-facadism clause but not the spirit. Nice there’s … Continue reading Facadism, and an unintentional pair of towers, and a new laneway →

6 May 2021 This is what the GPO looked like for it’s first 20 years - for ages I had assumed they just stopped without the top floor and with a stumpy tower - but actually it was meant to be like that, almost. It was #CrouchAndWilson that won an 1858 competition (2nd image), and … Continue reading GPO Melbourne, not finished – twice ! →

Repost from this day in 2017: The the 60 storey purple goodness of the #EQtower in #ABeckettStreet, another #ElenbergFraser. Don't mind this one, it's even got quite substantial setbacks and a proper podium - just not really a fan of fatter bases, or those balconies formed by just leaving out a pane of glass, but … Continue reading EQ, A’Beckett Street →

4 September 2023: The #ArtDeco #rocket of the 1935 #O'DonnellFountain, in the O'Donnell Gardens, both named after Edward O'Donnell, a St Kilda resident and grocer from the 1850s, then councillor from 1888 for forty-four years, and six times Mayor. He died in 1933, and enough people liked him enough to raise the £750 to build … Continue reading O’Donnell Fountain, 1935 →

If this 1935 house in Brighton had survived a bit longer than c1988, it would have been put on #VictorianHeritageRegister as one of the most important examples of Bauhaus Modernism applied to a house in Victoria. Designed by #GeoffreyMewton, when in partnership with #RoyGrounds, it was one of three winners of the ‘drawings or photographs’ … Continue reading Stooke House, Brighton, 1935, dem c1988 →

Posted 13 March 2021 Today is the 150th anniversary of #TheAlfredHospital welcoming its first patient ! It was designed by Charles Webb (who later did the Windsor) in a kind of Flemish mode, with plenty of #polychromebrickwork, a relatively early example. His plan included multiple separate ward blocks, on the ‘nightingale’ principle of fresh air … Continue reading Alfred Hospital →