Repost 2029: Carmel. Rather fabulous ‘attic villa in the Spanish style’ in #TennysonStreet #Elwood, built 1929, architect Gordon Sutherland, for Bernard Harrison, whose wife’s name must’ve started with a J, cos there’s BJ in the #wroughtiron and in little medallions on the front #windowboxes too. Great garden, all pebbles and succulents, ready for future hot … Continue reading Spanish charmer, Elwood →

August 2018: Very inventive #queenanne / Flemish influenced #shoptop #facade in #BridgeRoadRichmond. The #parapet has most of its #knobs and #urns intact, which is unusual, as is the whole composition, with square brick #piers rising right up through the parapet, with a pattern of cream bricks, and there’s some #aestheticmovement sunflowers up there too. 2025, … Continue reading Bridge Road beauty →

Repost 2016: The Great Fire of Melbourne in 1897. One of the biggest things to happen in the CBD, but largely forgotten. Starting in the giant Craig Williamson Department Store on Elizabeth Street in the early hours of Sunday November 20th, it soon grew to destroy nearly the whole block between Flinders, Elizabeth, Flinders Lane, … Continue reading The Great Fire of 1897 →

I do like #FedSquare but if there’s nothing on, then the back end is empty and it’s very uninviting, usually in the shade, cold, the black wall of the ‘crossbar’, an empty bar, the sheer glass wall- I do think that maybe there should be something there ? Like an elevated bar with views towards … Continue reading Fed Square – some improvements? →

Repost 2018 : There isn’t really a #goodangle for St Michaels Church Melbourne; all the skyscrapers behind it kind of detract, though in real life you can subconsciously #editthemout. It’s by #ReedandBarnes (#JosephReedArchitect), 1867, and the first full blown #polychromebrick design in Melbourne, which Reed himself said was inspired by the medieval churches of Lombardy, … Continue reading St Michael’s / Independent Church, 1867 →

Repost 2019: The late 1920s flats and houses on Windermere Ave- land that was the grounds of the #VictorianMansion Rothermere in #Elwood - are great ! Now Windermere Ave. Quite photogenic too because not that much garden in front, but mostly enough to soften the edges. Great names too; the corner one Neville Court has … Continue reading Elwood flats, Windermere Ave →

August 2017: The #AustralianClub, the other great #mensclub after the Melbourne Club, built for the businessmen and squatters whose offices and storehouses were at this end of town. The main part was built in 1879 designed by #LloydTayler, extended to the lane behind in 1884. Then in 1890 they decided to enlarge it with four … Continue reading Australian Club, William Street →

Repost 2019: Another Sunday drive through #Caulfield - 3 #BickhamsCourt #EastStKilda, apparently won the #HouseoftheYear1962 ! [not sure about that but the architect was Robert Rosh]. Got it all, huge windows, slate walls, hovering flat roof, stripy basement garage door, fun #wroughtiron grill entry, #pergola, and a gray curved side fence in black & white … Continue reading Bickhams Court East St Kilda, Modernist enclave. →

Repost 2017: #Urbrea, #JABKoch, c1900, a pair of houses that looks like a single mansion - the #toweredentrance actually belongs to the #castironlace #verandah part. Done over in #cementitiouspaint in I think the 90s, looks like #limewash but takes far longer to actually wash off. Nice #patina. Reinstating the colour of which traces clearly there … Continue reading Urbrae Punt Road →

25 August 2019: The other kind of #MansionFlat; a #VictorianMansion turned into flats ! This one rather leaps out on #HennesseyStreet street in #Elwood, surrounded by interwar flats. Designed by #DavidAskew (of #TwentymanandAskew) and built 1891 for Joseph Syme, nephew of #DavidSyme who ran #TheAgeNewspaper for 30 years. For a while that was in partnership … Continue reading Rothermere, Elwood mansion flats →