Yesterday was #WorldArtDecoDay, so here’s my belated contribution- the fabulous but very short lived Park Theatre in Albert Park, opened 1939, closed 1962, and demolished for a petrol station soon after (its now the Albert park library). It was designed by cinema specialists #TaylorAndSoilleux, who did very inventive work, not your typical streamlined or jazzy … Continue reading Park Theatre, our best Deco cinema only lasted 23 years. →

Repost from this day in 2019: The 1934 lobbies at #HerMajestysTheatreMelbourne are a bit on the plain side imho; nice details, but there’s lots of blank wall between them. [found some original photos, the walls seem to have had a coloured textured finish, plus the nice light fittings and flowers made a difference]. Just noticed … Continue reading Her Majesty’s Theatre lobbies, 1934 →

Repost from 9 March 2017: Fabulous #GothicRevival house in #EastMelbourne, designed by #JosephReedArchitect in 1861. Shows how Reed could go from classical to gothic (and later polychrome brick Romanesque) with ease. (eg #StateLibraryVictoria, #MelbourneTown Hall, #WesleyChurchMelbourne and #RipponLeaEstate). Built for Deputy Surveyor-General, Clement Hodgkinson, who designed a few things himself, like the 1859 layout of … Continue reading Gothic Revival in East Melbourne →

Not Melbourne but Quite Interesting - I had no idea that around London new outer suburban houses were so historicist ! I sort of like them, nice brickwork, nice details, but a bit toyland scale, and obviously deliberately scattered in different styles to create interest, but still, all the same really. At least they have … Continue reading The London suburbs are ….. Victorian (style) →

The restoration of the New Council Chamber at #TradesHallMelbourne was in the Age recently, so I went to conservation architects @lovellchen webpage and borrowed all these images- and it turns out only the painted wall is original, the rest is sympathetic but not at all like the original, lost in a fire in c1962. It … Continue reading Trades Hall Council Chamber restoration →

April 2021 Some more #LostMelbourne, and rather surprisingly demolished in 1982! All part of a compromise to get the Rialto towers built, while saving the original Rialto. The first two pics are both c1982 from the @nationaltrustvic files, which I happen to have from work from 2016 for an app called Lost! 100 cbd places … Continue reading Robbs Building, demolished 1982 →

The ‘featurist’ bank from Robin Boyd’s 1960 book The Australian Ugliness looks suspiciously like the 1956 Commonwealth Bank on Elizabeth Street, still there, painted over, but recognisable, and #heritagelisted. Would Boyd have eventually changed his mind if he’d lived longer than 1971?

3 April 2025 My least favourite waterfront tower, from an unflattering angle. Arrandale is just a huge solid block plonked on the Upper Esplanade, St Kilda, looming over the Espy itself. Fortunately it has a generous setback and garden so you don’t feel it too much while walking past. It was built c1980, one of … Continue reading Brutal St Kilda tower →

Repost this day 2019: Miami Towers, #SolSapir, 189 #BeaconsfieldParade, #MiddlePark, 1972. It has an twin in Armadale and a taller sister further down the street. The panels might be precast, with little curved edges, but they’re separated by curious vertical metal channels that poke down below the first floor; which involves a lot of cantilevering … Continue reading Sol Sapir, Miami + 2 →

8 August 2024 The competition for the Shrine was held in late 1923 - a whole lot of great images of the entries have been unearthed by researchers for an exhibition about to start at the Shrine galleries. The first image is a fabulous geometric design by Walter & Marion Griffin, but they didn’t even … Continue reading The Shrine of Remembrance competition 1923 →