November 2025:
The delightful #MajorcaBuilding in #FlindersLane, which lines up perfectly with Degraves Street. There’s lots of #bluetiles and jolly #fishies and #seagod faces in the decoration, suitable for something named after a Mediterranean island. Plus some Spanish flavour seeing as it’s a Spanish island. This was architect Harry Norris having great fun in 1929, when Majorca was a rather exotic holiday spot. It was noted at the time as a welcome blast of colour, and followed a trip or two taken by Norris to the US, where exotic styles were very popular. The terra cotta panels were created by Wunderlich, as featured in their catalogue (b&W images visa Graeme Butlet). It was an early #residential conversion in 1993, turfing out lots of artists, architects and fashion designers from memory. They added a rather daggy top floor which unfortunately sticks up behind the parapet. The flats look very nice, with the steel framed windows, some enlarged. The foyer stayed intact, and the new doors are nice too (it was just open originally). It’s annoying that the popularity of the outdoor cafes in Degraves means the umbrellas are in the way of a good shot, so the last one is 1972.
2024 update :
Just learned that this was a commission by the Nicholas brothers, who had used Norris to design their Nicholas House around the corner a few years earlier. They were born in the hamlet of Majorca, north of Ballarat, which they used as the name of their development company, then for the building name, and then Norris of course took it as inspiration for his design.
2025 comments
Storey of Melbourne 