8 November 2018 Love it. #RoyalMailHouse, #SwanstonStreet, 1963, #DGraemeLumsden, possibly the most high profile example of #MidCenturyModernMelbourne that comes from the fun, decorative, stream rather than pure minimalist or structuralist. Anyway, still looks good despite losing (for no particular reason !) about 15 years ago the verticals that joined the projecting window hoods, making it … Continue reading Op Art Architecture: Royal Mail House, 1963 →

7 November 2018: I do like this one, though it’s rather massive in an otherwise low scale area around the GPO. London Stores 1925 by the prolific Tompkins brothers #tompkinsandtompkins (who also did Myers Bourke Street opposite 10 years later). Excellent example of #CommercialPalazzo, an idea straight from US really, sometimes called #beauxarts, the 'base … Continue reading London Stores, Bourke Street, 1925, Tompkins & Tompkins →

‘The Lawn at Flemington’, #MelbourneCup, 1887, one of my fave depictions of #MarvellousMelbourne, I mean look at the crowds ! Also love the detail of the figures in the foreground, in the height of 1880s fashions with #bustles and #bonnets. The artist, visiting Austrian Carl Kahler, was said to have asked various wealthy people for … Continue reading Melbourne Cup: The Lawn at Flemington, Carl Kahler, 1887 →

Not much to look at but radical in its day, a cantilevered stair inside a mini #glasscurtainwall, built in 1936 for #Pilkingtons glass factory on #MelbourneRoad in #Geelong, designed by local firm #LairdandBuchan; the stair is very #modernist compared to the great long #streamlinedmodern front in white pained brick, with curved insets doorways, a bit … Continue reading A bit Modern: Pilkingtons Glass Factory Geelong, 1936 →

Beaut #ArtDeco #wroughtirongate on the #RoyalMelbourneRegimentDrillHall in Victoria Street near the Queen Vic Market. Built 1937, and designed by #GeorgeHallendal, who was the architect for work in Victoria built by the Commonwealth at the time. There’s a few other great #drillhall’s he designed, love the one in Mildura especially.

November 2018 The grand 1923 frontage of the #FederalMills in Geelong which I’d read about finally made the effort - what is now a series of flexible office spaces started out as WW1 mills built by the Federal Government to make cloth out of wool for uniforms, sold in 1923 when this bit added, which … Continue reading Building as Billboard : Federal Woolen Mills, Geelong, 1923 →

4 November 2018 Love the animals up here on the facade of the #QueenVictoriaMarket #MeatHall, some sheep and cows, live versions of the meat inside ! I'm told they were sculpted by #JohnSimpsonMcKennal, father of more famous #BertramMacKennal. I remember when they were painted up from the whole thing being whitish in the 90s (I … Continue reading Queen Victoria Market Meat Hall, 1884, William Salway; sculpted freeze John Simpson MacKennal. →

Quite a #streamlined landmark - the celebrated #FreemasonsHospital in #EastMelbourne is a result of the front corner being a matching 1958 extension to the original 1937 #hospital designed by #StephensonandMeldrum. They were famous for introducing white stark european #modernism to #Melbourne starting with the 1934 #mercyhospital just round the corner. The extension makes it striking, … Continue reading You want streamlined ? Freemasons Hospital, East Melbourne, 1937 + 1958. →

This is the best #backofatownhall ever ! Mainly because the then Emerald Hill Council leased an entire block that had been an orphan asylum on the eponymous hill, and put the hall in the middle, with axial streets front and back - most other town halls had to settle for corners or even mid blocks. … Continue reading Municipal Grandeur: South Melbourne Town Hall, Charles Webb, 1879. →

Looks like staff orientation for the #EsplanadeHotel - they’re going to need them with 4 floors of bars and restaurants and live music too ! There’s nice classical features around the door which I don’t remember, they’ve even kept the cracked I suppose 60s terrazzo stairs, and the new glass roof over the front bar … Continue reading Ready to Rick’n’Roll: renovations at the Esplanade Hotel, St Kilda, 1878. →