18 May 2023: Amazing place - happened to pass this a few weeks ago, at 23 Seymour Road, Elsternwick, and recognised it from ages ago - it was identified in a @cityofgleneira study from 2019, which tells me it was designed by Harold Shafer, and built in 1973. The very unusual street front has tall … Continue reading Flats that look like something else … →

Original post 16 May 2019: #Alverno, #DalgetyStreet, #StKilda, built 1918 for Miss Hoffman. Next door is an Edwardian house same date probably, and both were once part of the garden of the big Victorian terrace further to the right. An example of #earlyflats, part Edwardian #redbrick, part #ArtsAndCraftsStyle, and rather formal. It’s one flat on … Continue reading Alverno →

12 May 2023: Surveyor Robert Hoddle is famous for laying out the original town grid of Melbourne in 1837, but he wasn’t very creative about it. So I’ve re-drawn his plan of Melbourne, with improvements, a speculative design of what might have been. - I’ve drawn it up to Latrobe, which wasn’t actually surveyed until … Continue reading The Hoddle grid reimagined →

Original post 8 May 2019: Every mans home is his Modernist Castle-with-decorative-railings, spotted in Robe Street St Kilda. I think that maybe the slightly rafish seaside suburb of #StKilda after WW1 attracted people and/or designers who just let their heads go. If it was 1930s and didn’t have the stepped parapets it would actually be … Continue reading Modernist castle →

13 May 2023: The sex shop on Acland Street left this little Victorian shop some time ago, looks terrible - but the interesting thing is that the rear, all exposed because it’s a corner, is very intact, with nice brown bricks and verandah, complete with cast iron, which looks to have been larger upstairs, part … Continue reading Sex didn’t sell after all →

4 May 2023 Quite shocked to see that VCAT has actually said no to something on the basis of a bad heritage outcome - in this case facadism of the 1889 Royal Hotel in Clifton Hill. The developers wanted to keep only the two main walls, and given the lower buildings all round, the token … Continue reading VCAT says facadism not ok ! →

24 April 2023 The grand Eastern Market, 1/2 a city block on the corner of Bourke & Exhibition, was designed by Reed& Barnes, and completed in 1879 - but the few photos of the interior are mainly from its demolition in 1960. They show it had three large arched roofs, with skylights along each side … Continue reading Eastern Market →

6 April 2015 Repost 2015: Old #prahrancourthouse. Great and rather rare example of #roughfaced #sandstone in a city of italianate cement render or bricky gothic, but of course perfect for an image of solid, dour justice. Architect Charles Gilchrist working in the #publicworksdepartment, built 1887. Surprisingly all the fine Gothic stonework and entry to the … Continue reading Old Prahran Courthouse →

5 April 2014: Great untouched #cornershop in #northcarlton on cnr #richardsonstreet and station street. Love the original #rusting #verandah with posts right on the #kerb unlike repros that have to be setback. And original #shopwindows. The #weathereddoor of that #cornershop. Looks like nothings been #painted since ….before ww2 !

5 April 2014: Cant get much more #restored than this. Could have gone beyond the typical #brunswickgreen and #indianred colour scheme though. The #tuckpointing on the #polychromebrick is excellent though. The flat lintel with #voussoirs in brick a bit unusual.