13 May 2024

Architect Nahum Barnet is quite well known for designs such as the Auditorium Building and the Wertheim Factory in Richmond, but perhaps would be even better known if some of these had survived – he was very prolific in the city between 1900 and WW1, but most are gone; this is a selection of his more delicious designs, mixing red brick Romanesque, Edwardian Baroque and Art Nouveau, some of which didn’t last long at all. 1. Love & Lewis Bourke Street 1902, dem 1970s; 2. Alcocks, Elizabeth Street, 1903, dem 1930s for State Bank; 3. Wertheim, Bourke Street, 1903, dem 1932 for Buckely’s Menswear; 4. Swiss Portrait Studio Bourke Street 1901, dem 1924 for PBB (now facaded); 5. Melbourne Sports Depot, Elizabeth Street, 1902, three floors added 1925; 6. YWCA Russell Street, 1913 dem c1972 eventually the Hyatt; 7. Altson’s Corner, Collins Street, 1904, restored 2000; 8. the simplest, Paton Buildings, Elizabeth Street, 1905.

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