Art Deco flats to be demolished

Repost 2017:

#AscotLodge, #HoddleStreet, #EastMelbourne, 1930s but exact date and architect unknown. In the 2000s Scarfy used to sell footy scarves out the left ground floor window. Empty for a while, pending the horrifying redevelopment, which got a permit because this block didn’t actually have a heritage listing.

2021: It’s #StuartHallArchitect, 1940. And just seen that a second proposal that demolishes it completely has just been approved! I suppose I should be glad it’s complete demo not a tower sprouting out of a facade, which would haunt us forever.

30 August 2025

It was built a guest house, like a little hotel for long term renters. The redevelopment got bigger in 2020, this time demolishing the flats entirely and the c1940 vaguely Georgian offices round the corner, as a kind of ‘twin towers’, which was approved by VCAT in 2021, but I guess that permit has lapsed now. I think it’s actually better to demolish the flats entirely that just keep the front wall at the base of a tower that goes straight up. I also think if you’re going to ignore the recommended height limit, you might as well go even taller here, right on top of a hill, a good place for towers.