10 December 2024 This grand and picturesque house in Grattan Street Hawthorn called ‘Alloarmo’ near the river is unusual in a couple of ways. Firstly, it’s in two parts built many years apart in similar styles; the plainer brick section, enlivened only by a gothic bargeboard, is 1850s, while the more elaborate section is c1895, … Continue reading Gothic in two parts, Hawthorn →

8 December 2014: This wonderful crazy thing was built as the Avon Butter Factory in 1932 in #nicholsonstreetfitzroy, near Johnston. One of the early works by that inventive architect I G Anderson, where he fused Art Deco, Spanish and some Gothic too. No idea why they went so over the top here, and at the … Continue reading Spanish style butter factory →

8 December 2024 The new St Kilda Pier opened yesterday ! I quite like it. I was expecting lots of clunky concrete, and there is perhaps too much conc, but there’s lots of timber too, including seats, and the handrail is rather elegant. At the kiosk end it curves around, following the existing breakwater, and … Continue reading St Kilda Pier →

7 December 2024 In 2017 I posted a pic of the ex-St Saviours CofE Mission Church, designed by Leonard Terry and built in 1874 to minister to the poor in industrial #collingwood at the south end of Oxford Street (which became a Russian Orthodox Church in 1958) - without noticing it had been turned into … Continue reading Church transformed →

6 December 2024 The old tram shelter at St Vincent Plaza (the interchange at the bottom of Brunswick Street) actually has a bit of a history - here’s what I said in 2014 when I took the pics: This cute #rusticstyle #tramshelter was built in 1933, designed by tramways board architect F G Monsborough, and … Continue reading Tram shelter →

5 December 2016: The fabulous Fooks House in Howitt Road, North Caulfield. Open as part of a special exhibition last weekend. Built by Jewish Czech/ Austrian emigre architect Ernest Fooks as his own home in 1966, which he shared with wife Noemi; she was there until 2012 passing away at 102, and kept everything perfectly … Continue reading Ernest Fooks House →

4 December 2024 This former Freemason’s Hall, now the Melbourne Camera Club in Ferrars Street South Melbourne is a very fine example of Renaissance Revival, with a rusticated ground level front, and Corinthian pilasters on the first floor, where the hall was. Also helps that it’s never been painted or pretty much changed at all. … Continue reading Camera Club/ Masonic Hall →

4 December 2013: New #architects Institute of Architecture HQ #exhibitionstreet, or rather the back facing the #lane, by @lyonsarchitecture. Looks aggressive from this angle, and looking up it feels like a set of hacksaw blades. I don’t hate it though. The front is the same, but trees and scaffolding. Update : can’t find any explanation … Continue reading Architects Institute, sharp →

3 December 2024 Bit surprised by this one, jammed up against the 96 tram line at South Melbourne, though I’d seen the other side in passing. I suppose I shouldn’t be, there are others almost as close. And then more surprise, it was designed by @sixdegreesarchitects, and won the Australian Institute of Architecture National Award … Continue reading Award winning on a tight site →

3 December 2024 I went to a lecture a long time ago where it was proposed that Art Deco arrived in Melbourne in 1926 with this bathroom, just one year after the Exposition in Paris made the style famous. But all we have is this photo from Robin Boyd’s 1947 publication Victorian Modern, where he … Continue reading First Art Deco in Melbourne? →