Some more lost Melbourne. Here is a selection of some of the Victorian skyscrapers all built between 1888 and 1891 and all now gone. They were built on the strength of a boom in land values which crashed in 1892, and the use of hydraulic elevators powered by a pressurised water system under the streets. … Continue reading Lost Victorian Skyscrapers →

This is the Flinders Street Station we nearly got ! Which isn’t so different from what was actually built, makes you wonder what the competition was for. In early 1899, the Railway Commissioners released this design, and Parliament agreed to pay for it, but changed their minds- then held a completion later that year, which … Continue reading Flinders Street Station prequel →

This is the amazing but long gone Equitable Building, nw cnr of Collins and Elizabeth. It was designed about 1890, and took 6 years to build, out of grant and thick brick walls and a steel frame (the first here). It was designed by Edward E Raht, German born, Paris trained, and who had worked … Continue reading Equitable Building, via New York →

15 March 2022 The design for the NGV Contemporary on Southbank has been released, and I really like it! I think the architect Angelo Candelapas is doing things nobody else is doing - a kind of very refined Brutalism that ends up beautiful. Almost all his work is in Sydney so far. I like very … Continue reading NGV Contemporary →

Finally got to the city to see some things for myself - like Nauru House and the newish 80 Collins finished - separated by a 6m gap ! There weren’t any rules that anyone taking any notice of when this one got a permit in 2011. And looks like there’s a similar gap to the … Continue reading 80 Collins, ex Nauru House →

So finally got to see for myself what’s left of the former Le Louve boutique for myself - though it looks fine, the only original thing is the 1920s shopfront. This was a famous invite-only boutique, operating here from the 30s until 2013, run by Lillian Wightman, who refused to sell to Nauru House in … Continue reading What was Le Lourve, now all new →

Repost from 2016: Spier&Crawford #winemerchants rather elaborate 1888 #warehouse on William Street, near Little Lon, designed by the young #NahumBarnet in a distinctively chunky over-scaled Victorian #mannerist style, with fun grapevine detail! Always liked it, but only see it a few months/year thanks to the #peskytrees. #Latergram from 2011 taken as part of the listing … Continue reading Mannerist warehouse on William →

1 March 2022 I’m worried not only for the people of Ukraine, but their fantastic architectural heritage too, not only old Baroque churches and Neoclassical palaces, but Kyiv is also actually full of great old apartment buildings from the 1880s-1910s, when the Russian Empire finally had its industrial revolution and the middle class grew a … Continue reading Ukrainian architectural heritage →

February 2022 Woy Woy, Marine Parade, Elwood, 1936. Photo Rohan Storey, 2019, just after renovations and repainting. Last year I went to photograph Woy Woy, the bold blocky 1930s Modernist apartment block on the Elwood foreshore, and discovered it had just been renovated; painted white after years of being a muddy yellow, suddenly it looked … Continue reading Geoffrey Harley Mewton, Modernist Pioneer →

Repost 2019: Coming up Jackson Street in the late afternoon, the #StKildaCoffeePalace in Grey Street often looks so impressive. And nicely worn, not overly restored, cos it isn’t. It’s one of the first ‘temperance hotels’, created in 1883 by extensively rebuilding something that had been built as an ‘assembly room’ in 1871. The rebuild was … Continue reading St Kilda Coffee Palace →