24 February 2024 This fabulously overwrought facade on Flinders Street near King Street is a 1911 do-over of an earlier warehouse for the Savings Bank, the State Bank in its early days of expansion. This one, presumably here to cater to the maritime /warehouse trade, was designed by Claude E Merrett, in fruity Edwardian Baroque … Continue reading State Bank, Flinders Street, 1911 →

23 February 2024 The very imposing memorial to Queen Victoria in the Alexandra gardens, which was splashed with red paint by activists on Australia Day, is cleaned up now but some red still visible. I think it’s very grand, lots of nice sculpture, columns etc, and set on its own small hill with flower beds … Continue reading Alexandra Gardens →

22 February 2024 Had to go way out east recently, and saw this - Dandenong Town Hall sits majestically on the main drag, looming over the traffic. Completed in 1890, at the height of the boom, it’s got the tower and elaborate renaissance revival details of so many built at that time. Quite a statement … Continue reading Dandenong Town Hall →

20 February 2024 This nice domed pavilion in the Alexandra Gardens was built in 1913 as a memorial to Lady Janet Clarke, who died in 1909. The design by Mr H Black won a competition in 1912, and it was intended as a bandstand and a rest spot for the public. A rather Edwardian Baroque … Continue reading Lady Clarke Memorial Pavilion →

19 February 2024 The new Glen Huntly Railway Station, opened late last year - quite a striking and attractive thing I think, I like the use of red bricks and a huge arch, a nice solid effect, which is counter intuitive given it’s all suspended over the lines. The tram stop is integrated, more or … Continue reading Glen Huntly Railway Station →

17 February 2024 This years M Pavilion, by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. I like it a lot. A few simple ideas, but quite delightful, intriguing, and achieves a sense of quiet emptiness (just saw that Ando described it as ‘an architecture of emptiness’, so he achieved exactly that!). Unlike other M pavilions, it’s quite enclosed … Continue reading MPavilion 10, Tadao Ando. →

Original post 17 February 2016, updated 2024 The Art Deco entry of the former #CapitolBakeries cnr Toorak Rd and Chapel Street. Originally built as a #cabletram #enginehouse in 1888, heavily remodelled in c1936 by #HarryNorris, into something equally unlikely for this now very prominent corner. In the 70s/80s it was the Fun Factory, complete with … Continue reading Capitol Bakeries, dem 2016 →

13 February 2024 The most spectacular lost mansion at 424 St Kilda Road, known as Illoura. Well known but not well researched - had to dig, found it was probably built in 1888 for businessman Henry Burrows, originally known as Fitzroy House, and almost definitely designed by James Gall, who did two very similar mansions … Continue reading Illoura St Kilda Road, dem 1963 →

15 February 2024: Chelmer Lodge, Park Street, #StKilda, delightful. It has great textured brickwork and bold curved forms, one with almost battlements, arched windows with lead lighting, all feels like Deco Tudor, without being clearly either. Nice courtyard garden entry, and even an arched driveway to a small carpark out back. Real estate photos of … Continue reading Interwar flats, West St Kilda →

13 February 2024 Not terrifically exciting, but these pillars at St Kilda beach framing the entry to Brookes Jetty, are thought to have been designed by Walter Burley Griffin, part of a larger scheme for the foreshore, never implemented, but no drawings have ever been found. Possibly c1925, or maybe later after the bathing pavilions … Continue reading Burley Griffin in St Kilda ? Probably not. →