July 2026

This fine bit of brooding 70s black box minimalism looks like maybe a corporate HQ but no it’s the Toorak South Yarra Library, a surprising choice for a library, but one that really gives visiting a sense of occasion.

Which is accentuated by the formal pair of ramps – but I was shocked to see that they’ve recently been replaced by new ones that have none of the elegance of the originals – pics 5-7 (not mine) show that they had black steel edges, floating above the ground like the building itself, but the new ones are all solid grey concrete. Urg. And they put in some rather steep granite steps, with angled sides, quite out of character. That happened in 2024, with the City of Stonnington maybe not really getting to grips with their own heritage listing. It was added to the Victorian Heritage Register last year, sadly too late for the ramps.

The designers were Yuncken Freeman, with Barry Patten as the lead architect – they were channelling the work of Chicago based Mies Van der Rohe, and the library is like his 1955 Crown Hall at IIT (pic 10). It was completed in 1973, about the same time as BHP in the city, and their own offices in King Street, the first modernist facade job in the city, with a tower above.

The whole thing is essentially a dark glass box raised up on a partly sunken inset basement, creating the floating effect, and the walls are just steel framing and glass, rather severe actually. Like the van der Rohe originals, it has I-beams attached on the exterior, representing the steel structure behind, and adding a vertical emphasis.

Inside is almost one huge space, very light and airy, originally kitted out in bright 70s reds, and I think the shelves are original. The foyer is spacious, with a central stair down to the toilets staff room etc, it’s very elegant, just kind of hanging there, with very minimal detailing (but mind your head).

Old pics State Library, Stonnington Library, the internet.

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