13 February 2024

Not terrifically exciting, but these pillars at St Kilda beach framing the entry to Brookes Jetty, are thought to have been designed by Walter Burley Griffin, part of a larger scheme for the foreshore, never implemented, but no drawings have ever been found. Possibly c1925, or maybe later after the bathing pavilions were built in 1928 ?

There were also some lamps, long gone, very Griffin style (I think only a few of them ever put up having just peered at many 1930s -1050s views of the foreshore) – the best one shows they were very spiky and looks like two colours but not alternating as in the 1953 Blackman sketch, but hard to say. They’re also depicted in some art from the 50s, such as a 1953 sketch by Charles Blackman, detail below. The drawing is a similar lamp Griffin designed for the Capitol Theatre in 1924.

The pillars are very NY skyscrapery, but also reminds me of the Arkhitektons by Russian Constructivist Kasimir Malevich of the mid 1920s. In fact can’t think of anything else Griffin designed that’s quite like them.

That c1930 postcard is worth a look in itself, taken in front of the Stokehouse – an unusual action shot with people chatting, wandering, check out the shoes of the beach girl on the left !

16 February 2024

After consulting architectural historian Simon Reeves and checking sources, it seems that these pylons on St Kilda Beach, and the spiky lamps once also there were not designed by Walter Burley Griffin. There’s no evidence linking him to them, but there are a couple of mentions in newspapers of ‘futuristic pylons’ and ‘tinted cone tops’ in descriptions of decorations on the foreshore for Victoria’s Centenary in 1934. No designers noted. Also the lamp tops appear to be on bases that match a standard type put up along the foreshore from 1930, which appear in many photos, while the cones only appear twice. So I guess myth busted ! Two less Griffins, but the pylons would be the only bit of decoration left over from the celebrations that I know of, along with the more permanent Macrob High, Macrob Fountain, and the Macrob Bridge.

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