11 July 2019 Worth an exception of leading with old photo because trees - another fabbo confection by noted flat designer #ArthurPlaisted - this time a crazy battlemented 1941 thing called ‘Castle Towers’ in #MarneStreet #SouthYarra, one of the very few ‘elevator flats’ built in Melbourne before WW2. Though at 5 floors not exactly highrise, … Continue reading Castle Towers, South Yarra →

I do like a good bit of Mock Georgian Good Taste #sillyness- which I associate with the 1950s, but this one, ‘#Coniston’, in Walsh Street #SouthYarra is actually c1940, designed by prolific flat designer #ArthurPlaisted. A bit of a decorative cornice, some tall #multipanewindows, some Regency via Hollywood #wroughtiron, and fully fledged #CorinthianColumns. This style … Continue reading Good Taste Georgian in South Yarra (and East St Kilda) →

8 July 2019 The rather splendid #EconomiserBuilding in #LittleBourkeStreet was built in 1908 as part of the #LonsdaleStreetPowerStation, first built by the #CityOfMelbourne in 1894 to supply the new fangled electric #streetlights. When the #UpperWestSide development was first proposed about 2010 it was going to be demolished along with the whole of the power station … Continue reading Lonsdale Street Power Station. →

Hadn’t really noticed this one before, in Elizabeth Street up from Collins, turns out to be a super narrow Victorian thing that was done over in early 1930 for Ackman’s Furniture (see the A’s up top ?); their main store was in Smith Street at what’s now the Woolworths facade. The redesign was by #GawlerAndDrummond. … Continue reading Victorian Tall Thin frontage, modernised 1930. →

I took this photo in Elizabeth Street just up from Collins in February and wondered what was going on- turns out it’s yet another building long abandoned above the ground floor (due to a crackdown on #fireregulations in the 70s) and like the one next door I posted yesterday it’s being restored as offices - … Continue reading An early foray into QueenAnne by Charles D’Ebro, 1889. →

Not the best #trompeloeil but unless you were looking for it you prob wouldn’t notice. This strip of shops in #ClarendonStreetSouthMelbourne were all restored in the late 1970s and instead of recreating they did this ! Recently repainted. The whole block was owned by the Anglican Church - the orphanage there was moved to Brighton … Continue reading Some trompe loeil in South Melbourne. →

This is Yarrabee in Walsh Street #SouthYarra, the less well known one of the really Quite Interesting #blocksofflats designed by German background, Swiss trained architect #FrederickRomberg, after he arrived in 1938 and before the war, as part of Romberg & Shaw, with #MaryTurnerShaw. Built in 1940, this one goes through to the ‘back’ in Mona … Continue reading Yarrabee, a bit of Bauhaus in Melbs, Romberg & Shaw, 1940. →

I’m sorry but the #MelbourneUniversity #FacultyOfLaw on #UniversitySquare just looks like an office block. That’s prob because it was built in 2002 as part of a ‘melbourne private’ arm of the university that failed by 2005 (I think - the website says ‘purpose built’ for law) - anyway it was built along with the other … Continue reading Melbourne Law School, 2002 →

24 June 2019 The new #UniversitySquare looks a bit bare ! All the elms were #senescent so had to be replaced eventually, and the plan was to pull them all out, so glad they kept some, because it’s going to take 20 years for all the new trees to look anything like the drawings - … Continue reading University Square – trees ! →

24 June 2019 Believe it or not these terraces were nearly demolished in 1999, only saved after big protests by the @nationaltrustvic, residents and unions - #MelbourneUniversity announced plans to demolish most of the terraces in Barry Street on the west side of #UniversitySquare in 1998 in order to build three modern things to house … Continue reading University Square Carlton →