14 August 2021, new pics June 2024: The #StKildaBotanicGardens Conservatory 1990 - nice to have, but architecturally, I never thought tilt-slab classical was a particularly appropriate way to go. Architects Napier Thomas Mantesso Healey, according to the foundation plaque, located unhelpfully at grass level. Nice enough inside, though I always expect glasshouses to have lots … Continue reading St Kilda Conservatory →

Repost 2018, updated 2021: Aurora Melbourne, #LaTrobeStreet, vision vs reality, both images from @elenbergfraser, 2nd side by side from 2018. Surprisingly the render is exactly right, except for the colour. Funny how it’s so tall, 90 floors, but not really a landmark. It would look better in morning sun, but then this is what it … Continue reading Aurora, Latrobe Street, 2019 →

A lovely house follower michael Barrett just sent me, in Hastings Road, East Hawthorn. He thought it might be #RobertHaddon, and it might be, or might not, the very cute domed pavilion is his thing, but other than that it’s very much #Arts & Crafts details you might see anywhere. A style that’s also called … Continue reading Arts & Crafts in East Hawthorn →

Repost 2019: 😮😮 what can you say ? The delightful and quite wacko #BeverleyHillsDarlingStreet #SouthYarra was built by architect-developer #HowardLawson in 1934-5, the largest of about 15 apartment projects in this immediate area. He took steep sites and piled up as much as he could, but often with views in mind. Like the later Stratton … Continue reading Beverley Hills and more, Howard Lawson, 1930s →

Repost 2019: The first one is the 1888 #BallaratStarHotel, corner #LittleBourkeStreet, by #TwentymanAndAskew just before they did the Block Arcade. Doubt it had a lift, so the rooms on the 4th floor would have been cheaper ! Recently the exterior was repainted, looks nice though really shouldn’t be white and maybe still missing a top … Continue reading Two ex-hotels on Swanston Street →

12 August 2021 The Langham, cnr Grey & Robe Streets, St Kilda, 1919, architect unknown - a curious melange of styles, Edwardian/ArtsAndCrafts with some added classical elements like the wreaths and abstracted cornices, the uncertainly reflecting the newness of flats to Melbourne, and architects. It would have looked more Edwardian originally with a domed Belvedere … Continue reading Early flats on Grey Street, St Kilda →

August 2019, updated 2025 A wonderful bit of #streetfurniture on #BalaclavaRoad, North Caulfield. There’s three of this type of #TramShelter, all built in 1916/17 by the #PrahranAndMalvernTramwaysTrust, the municipal body that built much of the tram system in the east and southeast suburbs in the 1910s, so their increasingly suburban citizens could get around. Built … Continue reading Tram Shelter, Caulfield →

Repost 2018: The most excellent #CaulfieldTechnicalSchool extension by the ever creative #PercyEverett, chief architect of the #publicworksdepartment. Streamlined Modernist designed during ww2 and built 1947, by when it looked a bit retro. The #hexagonal feature may or may not be inspired by the the #RussianConstructivist #melnikovhouse, since percy went to russia in 1930. A landmark … Continue reading Caulfield Tech, 1947 →

13 August 2018: #LindHouse, #DandenongRoad, #NorthCaulfield, #AnatolKagan, 1955. Realestate pic, and today’s pic from the driveway; a #midcenturymodern delight. Undercroft, #creambricks, #butterflyroof, #glasscurtainwall, #stonewalling, loads if decorative features inside, parquetry, panelling, built in shelving, even padded bed head. You can almost forgive #heritagevictoria for describing it as a ‘collection of disparate elements’ and refusing to … Continue reading Lind House, Anatol Kagan, 1955 →

A nice probably 1930s set of #SpanishMissionStyle flats in #BeaconsfieldParade - at least they would be nice if not for that clunky added ‘matching’ floor. Seems to have happened just after 2010, found a before image. Don’t know how it was allowed, since Port Phillip #heritageguidelines say additions should be under a line taken from … Continue reading Interwar Beaconsfield Parade →