First posted 9 November 2019 #MelvilleHouse, one of the few big houses/terrace houses built for the medical profession in the 19th century, when the #parisend was the Harley St of Melbourne. They were built for Dr Ray in 1881, and designed by #NathanielBillings, in a fairly elaborate #RenaissanceRevival. They were knocked over her and shops … Continue reading Victorian townhouses in the Paris End, an early conservation win. →

First posted 9 November 2019 #ProfessionalChambers in #CollinsStreet has a rather nice entry (but they could have thought of a more inventive name!). For a while I thought maybe it wasn’t worthy of the VictorianHeritageRegister, I mean it’s a very nice example of #TudorRevival, but there are plenty of them, though maybe not so many … Continue reading Edwardian Tudor in Collins Street. →

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 ? →