Author: Rohan Storey
Monash University Chancellery, by @armarchitecture, 2020 - on a rare outing I had a look. I thought the columns by various artists were great ! Some I presume by ARM too (the black one clearly a wonky version of Adolf Loos’ 1922 Chicago Tribune competition entry); I loved the concrete couch by Kathy Temin. The … Continue reading New Monash University Chancellory
A great Christmas present from @deddle8ug - it’s a bit odd though seeing things I remember called Old Vintage! Love the cover image, 1975- check out the Afro dude, and the paperboys pushing copies of the Herald (probably) ‘Heeer-ald !’; orange trams 1974, so new, so exciting, so hot in summer; Coles Variety 1975, for … Continue reading Old Vintage Melbourne, 1960s-90s
The delightful Queen Victoria Building, once on the corner of Swanston and Collins, in a close up of a painting from 1889 by Jacques Carabain, a French/Belgian artist who made a living going round the world and painting street scenes (usually exotic locales though). Then a scan of a slide of the building from the … Continue reading Queen Victoria Building and Queens Walk Arcade
Fantastic action shot of Collins Street from 1900-1910, looking west from Elizabeth Street, in the wet. This happens to be the one block where everything is gone, except the domed banking chamber interior behind the huge classical facade in the centre, and the ex-National Mutual building with spire in the distance on the corner of … Continue reading Collins Street in the wet c1900
1 September 2022 A still from ‘Lost Melbourne’, a great little doco by Gus Berger about much that we lost - and I’m in it ! Coming to cinemas. This is St Patricks Hall being demolished in 1957; it was on Bourke Street, the hall built by the Irish community in 1849, and was where … Continue reading Lost Melbourne – St Patricks Hall
3 Dec 2022 An amazing survivor at 458 High Street Prahran; a simple weatherboard shop/house, it might be as late as 1890s, or judging by the multi-pane windows on the front and sides, as early as the 1850s. It’s heritage listed by the @stonningtoncitycouncil, but no date of construction is noted. The earliest newspaper reference … Continue reading Timber shops, High Street, Prahran
Original post 17 December 2017 A bit of #postmodern madness, the 2004 Drama School at the #VictorianCollegeoftheArts by that cantankerous maverick #PeterCorrigan (but really it’s #EdmondandCorrigan). I don’t love it I don’t hate it I guess I don’t know what to think; solid, wonky dark massing with colourful stuck on cloud-shaped balcony things. I just … Continue reading Corrigan at the VCA
So there’s a lot of New Brutalism around these days - this is a new house on Beaconsfield Parade Middle Park - my first reaction was, ‘how about some windows’ ? Then I thought, we’ll if that’s the lounge room up top, then yes great views, and the other rooms below might be bedrooms, so … Continue reading Bayside Brutalism
Beaconsfield Parade Middle Park - every man’s home is his Castle 😊. I suppose whoever built it was from there (the one in the uk I mean). Don’t know much about it except that it was built before 1895, so probably c1890 at the end of the land boom, and before there was much in … Continue reading New Castle
Finally got to have a good look at Collins Arch (🙄) and I’m warming a bit to the reflective zig-zaggery, but it’s still a monster, filling the block, with some bits carved out to create public space - most of which is uninviting on a 3.30 on a summer afternoon. The central gap was quite … Continue reading Collins Arch public space fail
If the Nazi's never took power, would Berlin have Europe's tallest skyscraper and East Prussia be a honeymoon destination ?
Storey of Melbourne 