The #FootscrayPsychiatricCentre is a real #Brutalist beauty ! (photos by @johnjovic) - I helped write the nomination to #HeritageVictoria, and today they said yes ! Being a good example of #Brutalism, with all that sculptural #offformconcrete (the big slightly yellow panels are actually#precast) was only one reason, it’s also demonstrative of the #deinstitutionalisation that started … Continue reading Brutalist Footscray Psychiatric Centre heading for the VHR. →

The #OxfordandPeel apartment project by #jacksonclementsburrows, completed 2016, is one of their most respectful of context, namely that Oxford Street is entirely lined with the big Edwardian #redbrick buildings of the #FoyandGibson manufacturing empire, by #WilliamPittArchitect. I might have liked it even better if it was in exactly the same #redbrick, but I guess it … Continue reading Contextual in Collingwood →

25 July 2019 The #FoyAndGibson buildings in #Collingwood occupy a number of whole blocks down hill from #SmithStreetCollingwood, which are more monolithic in my mind than a photo can capture but you get the idea. They had a huge #departmentstore in 3 buildings on Smith Street and basically made everything here ! From wool to … Continue reading Foy & Gibson Collingwood red brick streets →

25 July 2019 A famous bit of #heritagecompromise in #SmithStreetCollingwood (actually the #Fitzroy side). In the 1980s a redevelopment saw the old Ackmans Store (aka 'Monster Furniture Arcade'), which occupied a whole block, completely demolished except for the very front wall, to allow a then very large Safeway’s supermarket, with a rooftop carpark, leaving the … Continue reading The original facadism – Smith Street Safeways. →

Lucky enough to get an invite to the launch of this book #AustraliaModern on Friday, with exhibition at the #melbourneschoolofdesign - an overview of #Modernism in Australia 1925-75 by highlighting 100 places - a project centred in Melbs but Philip and Julie have nobly gone out to ensure the whole country is covered, but of … Continue reading Australia Modern in 100 buildings. →

So cute ! #SmithStreetFitzroy, Edwardian, but heavy leaning toward Arts&Crafts. A Trove newspaper trawl tell me that it was Globe Loans from the 1880s to 1914, then WW1 recruiting, then in 1917 Lucas&Co Furs applied to register a ‘new factory’ here, employing 10 females, it sort of looks a bit industrial, though tiny, so I’d … Continue reading Cute Edwardian on Smith Street →

The transformation of the Edwardian #OsloGuestHouse for #theBlock2019 is complete ! I’ve got photos going back to Dec last year when they started. Not bad, but annoyingly in the currently popular black and grey #colourscheme, and the #palmtrees are pathetically lacking in fronds (I suppose they’ll grow) and I reckon they detract a bit too, … Continue reading The Block 2019 – 9/10 for the frontage restoration. →

A nice Victorian pub ? No, a pretty bad reproduction from 2007, built after the original 1871 Victoria Hotel in #SouthMelbourne was demolished in 2003 because it became ‘unstable’ while they were reducing it to two facades for the giant development behind. It’s made out of #tiltslab panels, you can see the joins and #weepholes. … Continue reading Historic reproduction fail. →

#NewburnFlats in #QueensRoadSouthMelbourne were built in 1939-41, and was prob the most high-profile announcement of the arrival of European #Modernist multi-level living in #Melbourne - which is no surprise since it was designed by recently arrived German background Swiss trained architect #FrederickRomberg, who was also the developer, so he could do what he liked (almost). … Continue reading Newburn Flats, Frederick Romberg bringing Euro Modern to Melbs, 1939-41. →

#MunicipalDesign is getting better, but still not as satisfying as the olden days - this is the base of a #tramwire support post in #FitzroyStreetStKilda, which for some reason has a new one right next to it, which is not only not decorated, just plain steel, but much fatter - why are new posts bigger … Continue reading Tram Poles old and new. →