Rather elegant bit of design in #HighStreetThornbury from c1970 I’m guessing. A social hall for the United Villages of Florina, that being a town in northern Greece. Update : I’m told by a local it was a State Bank, and it looks more like a bank than a social club, so I guess they bought … Continue reading Modernism in Thornbury →

Repost from March 2018; plus current sale images of the penthouse owned by John Denton of #dentoncorkermarshall, who’s owned it since 1991, and I’ve been to a party there, possibly that year, I don’t recall ! He bought it with #MorrySchwartz (#AnnaSchwartz took the ground floor as her gallery). They also bought the building next … Continue reading Flinders Lane penthouse →

10 September 2019 : The delightful #SapphireHouse, in #CrossleyStreet. Not protected until 2016 when #BourkeHill #heritageprecinct was reviewed. Built 1957 for the #Hurwitz family jewellers and traders, with the ground floor rented to Pellegrinis until the 90s as a larger (more expensive) serve yourself affair. The building hasn’t changed, entry looks original too, including #terrazzo, … Continue reading Mid century in a city lane →

Repost this day 2018 (about something nearly 10 years old now): Building/Sculpture; the concrete knot that #ARMarchitecture added in 2012 to the #MelbourneArtsCentre, which actually houses an outdoor/indoor lift. At first I thought it was going to be too big/distracting, but it isnt really, and makes an interesting foil to the perfect geometry of the … Continue reading Hamer Hall concrete lift →

Yet another #losttheatre that nearly made it through - the #MetroCollins was created in 1934 in Collins Street by completely rebuilding the 1913 concert hall that gave the Auditorium Building its name (but was a complete failure showing films from 1914). The cinema was designed by #CNHollinshead, same year he rebuilt Her Maj in Art … Continue reading Metro Collins, 1934-82 →

May 2021 Another #losttheatre, but it hung on longer than most - until 1983!- and if it had hung on a bit longer ? Built as the #HoytsRegent in Johnson Street Fitzroy just off Brunswick Street, it opened in 1931 as one of the largest suburban cinemas, seating 2000, and one of the most luxurious, … Continue reading Regent Theatre, Fitzroy, 1931-83. →

Repost this day 2018: Some #ArtDeco lovelies in #AclandStreet, both 1936, and the ones on the north side by #LeslieMPerrott, the cake shop south side ones also probably Perrott. You’d think that being in such a busy place in an historic suburb like #StKilda that places like these would have been restored by now - … Continue reading Art Deco in Acland Street →

The #ThorburyTheatre is a live entertainment venue that was actually built as a theatre ! A cinema anyway, and is in large part intact, one of the most intact left in Melbourne that doesn’t have any interior protection. Built in 1925 (and possibly a rebuild of an Edwardian era hall) it was pretty big, and … Continue reading Regent Theatre, Thornbury →

22 August 2017: I do love a good #HolgarAndHolgar! The 1975 Saade house in #BlackRock, elevated for beach views, with their fave flattened out #OscarNeimeyer curved T shaped supports. Built for a well to do Lebanese family who wanted modernism and glamour, they naturally turned to Polish born husband and wife team of John and … Continue reading Holgar & Holgar by the beach →

9 September 2017: The Atrium, the best bit of #FedSquare by far. Such a mad #fractal spiderweb. An early example of computer aided engineering, creating an irregular space frame. But there's rarely anything much in there (except the book fair) nor does it go through to anywhere in particular. 2021: just after I took this … Continue reading Federation Square →