First posted 10 November 2019 George + Powlett in #EastMelbourne just finished, 11 apartments, I assume luxury ones, designed by #PowellAndGlenn (#AllanPowellArchitect) replaced a rather daggy 70s brick motel. I quite like it, a rather severe channeling of #YunckenFreeman, complete with basement flats facing into an ‘area’ as seen in #1MacarthurStreet. Could have done with … Continue reading Refined contemporary in East Melbourne →

27 January 2020 A lesser known work by the great Ermin Smrekar, better known for the Veneto Club and fisherman’s pier restaurant in Geelong. For the early 80s medical suites building at St Vincent’s Hospital he went a bit Deco, with a curved corner (with subtle #speedlines) vs side corners that curve upwards. And the … Continue reading Ermin Smrekar In Fitzroy →

I’ve got a thing for this kind of American barn shape; it’s also more or less the ‘Rescode’ envelope, which architects hate but I like - even though it’s at odds with most streetscapes - maybe because it represents #goodneighbourliness ? allowing sun to penetrate next door, which it does in this case, at 90 … Continue reading Rescode townhouses St Kilda →

Honestly why bother ? What planner agreed to this ? Not only a terrible example of #facadism, keeping only literally the front wall, but they’ve put a few more holes in it too. So barely represents what it was, a plain industrial building, which maybe wasn’t worth being #heritagelisted in the first place. Maybe it … Continue reading Facadism, literally →

26 January 2020 This slightly crappy back end of St Vincents Hospital Melbourne is actually the most historic part, and one of the first ‘modern’ hospital blocks in Vic that’s still around, with generous balconies for patients to sit on, away from the germs that everyone had finally accepted were real. Built in 1905, designed … Continue reading St Vincent’s Hospital – the grand Edwardian front we missed out on. →

25 January 2020 The Healy Wing of St Vincents Hospital Melbourne is rather special, love the way the bricks grade up in colour from dark to light (only one other bldg in a Melb I know of does that), and the top levels step back, giving a bit of a NY skyscraper silhouette, though the … Continue reading St Vincent’s Hospital Healy Wing, almost Art Deco. →

The #HealyWing of #StVincentsHospitalMelbourne has all these great mosaic floors ! The tiles leading to the chapel are #hexagonaltiles and I guess the salve is the Latin for both hello and good health, but it might be literally a salve ? The chapel is in the earlier 1905 wing hence the Victorian looking doors with … Continue reading Looking down at St Vincent’s Hospital. →

13 November 2019 #deservetopreserve ? The #ReserveBankofAustralia Melbourne branch building was built in 1962-65 (as far as I can tell), and was designed by the Commonwealth Department of Works (with #ProfessorBrianLewis of Melb Uni archi school helping). It had an ‘arcade’ around the base, now filled in, and huge #SidneyNolan mural in the foyer, moved … Continue reading Reserve Bank tower Collins Street, replaced ? →

From the archives - the #SaracensHeadHotel on #BourkeStreet Up from Elizabeth was created 1875 by adding a floor to the 1847 original. Basically a typical Italianate form, but the arches are (just) keyhole arches, there’s a couple of crescent motif finials, and a pair of #oniondome ones, and an actual Saracen's head. The first photo … Continue reading Saracens Head Hotel, Bourke Street, minus the actual head. →

January 2020 The #castironlamps on #PrincesBridge were installed a long time after the bridge was opened in 1888- in May 1926, when they made the news ! They trialled a variety of globes, featured in another article from 1925, when they installed the first single cast iron lamps on St Kilda Road. The article doesn't … Continue reading Cast iron street lamps Princes Bridge. →