Repost this day 2018: #EsplanadeHotelStKilda, built 1878, designed by #SmithAndJohnson, as four grand terraces, which instead became a hotel, extended 1920s by #GibbsAndFinlay, when it was known as Carlyons, they had jazz out the back, 50 years later it was punk and alt live music powerhouse 80s – 90s, sold, a 35 storey tower proposed behind it caused a furore and this curved 10 storey thing by #FenderKatsalidis was the eventual compromise in 2005, hotel itself closed 2015 for a refurbishment which never happened, sold again last year by #SandHillRoad, being converted into 4 flours of bars and food venues with three live music stages, including the fab #GershwinRoom. Whew. Update : reopened Dec 2018, I got a snap during staff training.
2 June 2025
This post is about the big curved apartments behind the Esplanade Hotel. I’ve always been annoyed by it, rather dominating, and some nice Spanish style flats demolished for it, but it could have been much worse. It’s a compromise that was reached after a 35 storey tower was proposed in the 90s, with somewhat less of the hotel preserved, and no guarantees on its use. So a 10 storey limit was introduced, but over much of the site, so architects @fenderkatsalidis came up with this view catching curved thing running across, completed 2006. The back is much more glassy, and the entrance in the side street has a vast lobby with a palm tree sticking out ! (Update : the interiors, especially this lobby, were by Italian minimalist @claudiosilvestrin). The rear has townhouses at the base. So actually it’s not that bad, the white curves are almost a background, rather than ‘look at me’. The hotel carried on much as before, but closed in 2015, not reopening until Dec 2018, now an upmarket place, still with live music, but not the sticky carpet. And plastic walled booths along the street.
Storey of Melbourne 