Repost 2019:
The first one is the 1888 #BallaratStarHotel, corner #LittleBourkeStreet, by #TwentymanAndAskew just before they did the Block Arcade. Doubt it had a lift, so the rooms on the 4th floor would have been cheaper ! Recently the exterior was repainted, looks nice though really shouldn’t be white and maybe still missing a top balustrade, the interior seems to still be going, not sure but think maybe was nothing up there for ages.
This elegant building forms a gateway of sorts with the Ballarat Star on the other corner of Swanston and Little Collins; the former Globe Hotel is actually quite early, built 1858, with notably elaborate details, and a nice curved corner, a bit hidden behind trees, the Chinatown arch and the canopy, and a top floor added in 1927 when it was converted to offices. Architect not known. Great photo from c1865, you can blow up to see that you could get a coach to Woods Point from here – this was year of a gold discovery up there – it’s tiny, way up in the mountains, and still hard to get to.
Storey of Melbourne 