22 March 2024
Nice but of Art Deco at 53 George Street East Melbourne, bully 1940, and designed by IG Anderson. And then in 1942 right next door he designed another one, St Martins, in a more Georgian mode. Anderson did a lot of flats in East Melb around 1940, including 5 blocks in Garden Ave just round the corner. There was a boom in flats, often small, just as the war started, before rationing. This block at 52 George St seems to be one owner still, found some rental ad images, I think it’s just one 2 bed flat /floor.
St Martins next door probably has exactly the same layout, and found some plans – there’s two one beds on the ground floor, then a two bed on the first and second floors.
26 March 2024
Very striking and curious flats in Hotham Street, East Melbourne, built 1941, yet more by IG Anderson. The long thin part is studios, which have actual fold-down beds ! But I don’t know if they’re original; the place seems to still be a single owner, so just some blurry rental photos. There’s a second block of one beds set right back, possibly this was intentional, possibly it was built behind the Victorian house once there, which was set forward, then demolished after ? These were all no doubt part of the mini boom in 1940, when city workforces expanded, especially women, and before Japan joined the war. There also seem to be more modern units at the rear.
16 March 2025
Very striking Art Deco flats on the corner of Powlett and Hotham Street, East Melbourne, which I snapped in 2017- and then learned it was yet another project in that small suburb by IG Anderson; actually this was the first, built in 1934, he then went on to do 8 other small blocks and the 5 blocks on Garden Avenue, all by 1941.
This one was actually a rebuild of an 1875 two storey shop house, and the shop itself was kept intact, you can clearly see the Victorian arches, and the East Melbourne Historical Society thinks the shelves are original too. They also tell me that the shop was a grocer run by recent widow Hannah Boyle, and was licensed to sell alcohol in 1882, and it’s now a wine shop, so through the many owners over the years it’s still the same business! I can’t find any sale or even rent ads so I presume still one owner, who has painted it up in nice two tone cream and ‘sandstone’.
Update: at least one apartment was for sale recently, top floor Hotham St side, lovely lead light doors, funny planning with a corner bath.
Storey of Melbourne 