23 August 2024 I posted this on Insta in 2018, when I ranted about how terrible it was that McDonalds had been allowed to paint the lower level black in 2017, and just now looking for 19thC photos I found one from 1875 showing that the lower level was in fact dark! Though it certainly … Continue reading Old pub/bank Russell Street →

28 August 2024 My fantasy south east tram network. I first did this in 2017, but with the very expensive idea of the suburban train loop since then, Ive added a line from Southland to Box Hill. The idea is that its mostly elevated, so it avoids traffic, and only stops at major roads. The … Continue reading South east elevated tram network →

18 August 2024 There’s this giant mansion in Elwood that’s oddly side on to the street with hardly any front garden - which is because it’s once large site was all subdivided around it. Called Thalassa and built in 1889, it’s at the end of Byrne Street and Tiuna Grove, and once would have had … Continue reading Hidden mansion Elwood →

19 August 2024 Very surprised to be taken into the carpark for Aldi in South Melbourne, and it’s all huge old factory metal truss roofs ! Three of them (pics 1,2,3). The building is graded as Significant within a little industrial precinct but I can’t find anything more. Update : thanks to @elledee14 I looked … Continue reading Intact factory, South Melbourne →

21 August 2024 Passed by this in Mitford Street Elwood a million times, and always wondered what it would be like living above a laundrette, and also, was it always there ? I don’t know the answer to that, but it turns out it’s not just a little block in nice variegated cream brick, but … Continue reading Clean Elwood flats →

21 August 2024 Looking a bit sad in 2014, Brooks Building on Smith Street is a relatively rare example of Gothic applied to a shopfront. Built in 1885 presumably for Mr Brooks, it was occupied by the Fitzroy Furnishing Co, perhaps one of the first of the many furniture emporiums to concentrate here. The shop … Continue reading Smith Street shops →

20 August 2016, updated (only pic 2 is mine) : Casselden Place tower, Spring & Lonsdale, 1992. I’m a fan of Postmodernism, but this isn’t a good example. The tower itself is sort of striking, all #chamfers and 45* angles, the design idea being a glassy square tower shoved through an almost octagonal solid one. … Continue reading Casselden Place tower →

13 August 2024 Down Coventry Place, one of those narrow South Melbourne side streets, is this highly significant cottage - it was prefabricated in Singapore ! It’s one of about 150 sent out here during the gold rush, this one about 1853, now one of only 4 left, and the only one on its original … Continue reading A gold-rush cottage made in …Singapore →

17 August 2024 A walk round a block of South Melbourne at the northern end of Montague / Ferrars Streets, some streets at odd angles - hadn’t realised theres so many narrow side streets, and so many timber cottages variously altered. Most looked like they havnt been touched since the 1980s maybe, some distinctly wonky, … Continue reading North South Melbourne walk, Dorcas York Montague blocks →

16 August 2024 So much glass ! St Anne’s, on the corner of Toorak Road and Park Street, South Yarra, was built in 1938, and designed by the really very creative J Esmond Dorney. At first glance it looks just square on the corner, with a wrap around balcony, but it steps in and out, … Continue reading Deco vs Tudor flats, Park Street South Yarra →