April 2026 The roof of the Richmond Baths is pretty amazing, like a zeppelin hanger ! (Pics 1-4 not mine). It was built in 1936, not sure why such an extravagant roof, but it was the first Olympic sized pool in Melbourne with a roof. The frontage is very restrained by comparison, in red brick … Continue reading Richmond Baths →

April 2026 Very stylish factory out west in Tottenham that came up on Facebook as a magazine article from 1940, which got responses that it was still there ! Though somewhat altered. It was designed by Stuart P Calder with Reid & Pearson, best known for Moderne classics McPhersons in Collins Street and the Hawthorn … Continue reading Natty factory →

April 2026 This funny little garage possibly 1930s on Church Street Richmond cnr of Highett takes up only a third of the site. Probably it was a service station originally, but lost the pumps, and since 1962 it’s been CQ Auto Electrics, still going strong, even though there’s only room for like two cars at … Continue reading Old servo, Richmond →

April 2026 I guess the corner of Highett and Gardner Streets in Richmond is as good a place as any for someone with a devil obsession to live. Quite a collection of little monsters, skulls etc sprinkled across a particularly ordinary vaguely Victorian maybe 1980s brick box. Great cactus garden too.

April 2026 I see a lop-sided face. Interesting house in Highett Street Richmond with an almost Vienna Sezession look in concrete or render on an angled plan. I thought it was by Robinson Chen, a practice from the mid 1980s that did a lot of houses in Richmond, drawing from monumental work by Corb, Kahn … Continue reading Concrete Pomo →

April 2026 Howey Place is pretty unusual amongst the city’s lanes, part lane part arcade, with an old glass roof, Pomo details, looking like a dead end, but with many connections. The roof with its Art Nouveau front was created in 1896, when EW Cole extended his Bourke Street Book Arcade through to Collins Street … Continue reading Howey Place →

April 2026 Easthill House, a rather wild stylised Spanish thing nestled up next to St Vincent’s Private I snapped in 2014. I discovered back then it was a new front to a pair of terraces that got transformed, explaining its odd proportions, sort of, but not why there’s so much up top and so little … Continue reading Spanish mish mash →

March 2026 The Port Melbourne foreshore has these rather cute toilets, with quite separate blocks for men and women- the mens is smaller but more decorative, and they both have extra privacy fences added later, as were the multilingual signs. They were built in 1902, at a time when there were bands playing and amusements … Continue reading Port Melbourne foreshore →

March 2026 This is all that’s left of the Centenary Bridge that once formed the entrance to Station Pier - it was a rather huge thing, designed to carry motor traffic along the beach road - over the many rail lines that once ran to and onto the pier (pic 11) - and also down … Continue reading Centenary Bridge →

March 2026 So I won’t mind a bit when/if this one gets demolished - it’s in Dorcas Street South Melbourne, and it’s actually of some importance as the first high-rise tower built by the Housing Commission, completed in 1962. Designed by Bernard Evans, towards the end of a long career, its possibly in slip-form, a … Continue reading First high rise Housing Commission →