28 May 2023

Boyd Community Centre, City Road Southbank, a great State School built 1885, in Tudor style when almost all others were Gothic. Now rather lost amongst the towers, but looks great. Designed by chief schools architect Henry Bastow, or possibly by an underling. A reminder that the area had a residential population in the late 19thC, of which no houses remain nearby. Became a girls domestic arts school in 1930, named after grazier JH Boyd who bequeathed funding because ‘women should be taught to manage a home correctly’. Closed 1985, then I don’t know what it was used for, until 2012 when the @cityofmelbourne refurbished it to house a library, cafe, meeting rooms, and artists studios on the upper floor and in the tower – which originally also had battlements like the wings on the left (3rd photo not mine), don’t know why they weren’t restored. Nothing much to see inside except a very nice stair hall, with timber roof and skylight.

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