3 February 2024 I read today the Hill of Content is likely to close, because the building is to be sold. It’s a nice bit of 1920s architecture, with fat pilasters framing generous windows, a little pediment and original verandah. The store was started here in 1922 by A H Spencer, from Sydney, who came … Continue reading Hill of Content →

26 January 2017: Corner of Peel and Cambridge Street, Collingwood - no idea who designed this, but it’s from c2001. Proof architecture can be fun, or just plain silly depending on your point of view. #ednaeverage.

2 February 2024: Grand Victorian house on Dalgety Street, with added charm of peeling paint. As to date, all I can say is that since there’s an 1873 plan showing something with this shape here its probably before then; it could be 1850s, or 1870s, and the simple style implies earlier rather than later. Having … Continue reading Distressed in Dalgety Street →

1 February 2024 Salvation Army Citadel , Dorcas Street, South Melbourne, 1911, one of many that popped up all over the city in before WW1, in variations of this red brick castle /fortress style. Now offices, it’s pretty intact except someone chiselled off the ‘salvation army’ sign. It had a ‘young people’s hall’ behind, and … Continue reading Salvation Army South Melbourne →

Original post 31 January 2015, updated : This golden horse head graces the front entrance of what was built in 1886 at 40 Brunswick Street Fitzroy as Melb’s first animal hospital, which soon became a Veterinary College as well. It operated here until 1928, then became various things, and classified by the @nationaltrustvic in the … Continue reading Animal Hospital, Brunswick Street →

Original post 3 January 2018: #YoungandJacksons, the most famous #melbournepub. Restored in the 1990s to the colour scheme of the 1920s, that pinky #beige with #eaudenil details, kinda funny looking, but I like it. That period was chosen because that was the last major historic change to a place which is an amalgam of many … Continue reading Young & Jacksons →

31 January 2019 (update it’s changed a bit) : I can’t say I like the foyer of the 1990 #101collins, but I admire it, for its huge scale and luxury finishes…and of course the bombast of the ginormous #travertine #DoricColumns, a bit of #postmodernirony since they don’t hold anything up, except our expectations. So there’s … Continue reading 101 Collins lobby →

29 January 2024: First pic is Kerferd Road pier in summer 2017-2018. Unlike Brookes Jetty - which took 7 years of lobbying to get rebuilt, in very clunky concrete - the Kerferd Road pier was rebuilt in two years or so, exactly as it was. It was part closed by Parks Victoria due to safety … Continue reading Kerferd Road pier, 1889 →

Original post 26 January 2021 I do like all periods of architecture, including modernism, but this doesn’t float my boat. One of the less interesting of the 55 post war #officeblocks that’s proposed for #heritagelisting - #WalesCorner, at Collins & Swanston, was built 1964-66, and designed by #StephensonTurner, best known for their 1930s hospitals. Like … Continue reading Wales Corner →

28 January 2024: Some great photos of the very interesting Rosebud Uniting Church, built in 1967, and designed by Smith & Tracey. It features a steep swooping up roof made of a pair of hyperbolic paraboloids (also known as hypar), clad in copper. Inside, there’s a lot of great timber framework, and a tall triangular … Continue reading Parabolic roof – Rosebud Uniting Church, 1967 →