Original post 6 May 2020 Photos 2 December 2019 I like #WillamBarak looking down on us, but I’m annoyed by the way the whole redevelopment of the #CUBbrewery builds around the axis of #SwanstonStreet looking north, but also ignores it by encroaching on it and not having anything at all really that acknowledges it - … Continue reading The Swanston Street axis – or not. →

Original post 6 May 2020 A curious #blockofflats in #EildonRoadStKilda - unusually it’s built right on the street, and a very flat formal facade too. No info in the heritage study but could be 1920s, it’s got a side driveway and parking behind, which it wouldn’t if it was earlier, and might explain why it’s … Continue reading Very formal flats, Eildon Road, St Kilda →

Original post 5 May 2020 Photos 4 September 2019 Another bit of 30s #Bauhaus in #StKilda, one of my faves, but it’s really just the look of it ! Ozone, 45 #AclandStreet, 1939, #ArthurPlaisted; some #modernist style applied to an otherwise traditional block of #StKildaFlats - it’s got #pilotis on the front, and returning a … Continue reading Ozone, Acland Street, 1939 →

Original post 4 May 2020 The flats called Banff in #FitzroyStreetStKilda, very interesting #creambrick, almost Bauhaus lines (though the stair towers are more typical Art Deco). Built 1940, architects S & MC Nelson, who I've never heard of. It was all painted off white for maybe decades, but the smart body corporate stripped it all … Continue reading Banff →

Original post 2 May 2020 Photos 20 September 2019 I remember when this was still #MalcolmReid furniture in the 90s (I think), with walk-through display windows at ground level. In 1999 it was converted into I think it was service apartments (it’s now a hotel) and it’s not a bad job, especially considering it wasn’t … Continue reading Malcolm Reid furniture, Bourke Street, 1939 →

Original post 3 May 2020 Photos 12 September 2019 I always thought this was two blocks of flats that happened to be squeezed next to each other, but actually #DalgetyCourt (in my street in #StKilda) was all designed by the same architect, 17 years apart ! The right part is 1919, an early block of … Continue reading Howard Lawson in St Kilda, 1919 + 1936 →

Original post 2 May 2020 The history of naming places - I hadn’t realised it was quite so diverse, though it boils down to - early officials and early settlers, sometimes their relatives, royalty, places in London, England, Ireland and also Europe, lots of aboriginal word sources, and a horse, a bird, the Greek word … Continue reading Some place names of Melbourne →

Original post 2 May 2020 I was looking for something nice to post, but I found this instead, which still makes me mad - this great 1928 mural (actually an oil painting) by #NapierWaller graces/d the vestibule of the grand #TandGbuilding in #CollinsStreet, and was open to the street for everyone to enjoy - but … Continue reading Napier Waller Mural, T&G building, 1928 →

Original post 1 May 2020 The Ritz Hotel in #FitzroyStreetStKilda was built in 1922, possibly designed by #ErnestHLong, who later designed the similar #RitzMansions next door. The new hotel replaced the old wooden Cricket Club Hotel (previously the British Family), had hot & cold water to every room, and a dining room for 400. It … Continue reading Ritz Hotel, St Kilda →

Original post 1 May 2020 Another book I hadn't read: Great Properties of Country Victoria, published in 2015, mostly #VictorianMansions you might see in Hawthorn or Caulfield but they're in the #WesternDistrict. Don’t know them terribly well because very hard to visit ! Some of the most interesting Edwardian era houses in Victoria are out … Continue reading Dalvui, Western District homestead, 1908 →