Repost this day 2019 : Great photo in the #MelbourneUniversityArchives of an 1850s/60s house in #NicholsonStreetFitzroy that’s still there showing it had some kind of slatted ? canvas ? screen wall with arched openings following the arches of the verandah - no idea if that was 1850s too, but it shows that the Victorians had … Continue reading 19thC sun shading →

I was surprised recently to find out my great grandfather Elsdon Storey lived here ! In a big terrace house called Romanby on #BeaconsfieldParade, Middle Park, not far from me, from c1901-1920. In fact he might have built it; though it looks maybe 1860s it was actually built some time between 1900 and 1905, at … Continue reading Ancestral home on the beach →

Repost this day 2019: Very cute ! #Anselm, architect #RobertHaddon’s own house from 1906 in a little street in Caulfield just south of the Glenferrie and Dandenong Rd corner. Great details inside apparently. Love the spindly weathervane, the #terracotta on the turret and the gate is good too (with an angel holding a church ??). … Continue reading Anselm, Robert Haddon, 1906 →

Repost 2018 : Travancore, 1899, #RiversdaleRoad, down the hill towards the Alamein line crossing, designed by #UssherandKemp. This features as the archetypal #FederationQueenAnne house (Victorian version) in the 1970s ‘Architecture in Australia’ (though they don’t all have a fabbo corner turret); anyway they’re usually single storey, with a tall hip roof in red #marseillestile (imported), … Continue reading Travancore, 1899 →

Repost this day 2019: Yes it’s a bit of a #concretebunker but the 1993 #GottliebHouse in #CaulfieldNorth by #WoodMarsh has so much more presence and I guess integrity than every other ‘contemporary’ style house being built now. I like that the concrete is maturing into an almost organic rock formation with all that streaking, contrasting … Continue reading Gottlieb House, 1993 →

August 2021, updated 2025 with new pics. The Redmond Barry reading room at the State Library is quite grand but feels rather on a budget compared to the amazing Domed Reading Room. It was completed in 1893, and praised for its fine proportions and fireproof construction (concrete under the Karri timber, and the posts are … Continue reading Museum, Gallery, now Library →

Repost yesterday 2018 : What I think of as the dragon house, actually called Alton, 28 #StudleyParkRoad, #Kew, built 1905, but nobody knows the architect (possibly Christopher Cowper). I seem to recall seeing the dragon from a young age so maybe it’s not a 1980s creation like many of the others (update: it’s featured in … Continue reading Alton, Studley Park Road →

Limerick Lodge, 1928, by the ever versatile #ArthurPlaisted; fantastic exaggerated Old English style, with very rough plastering, equally rough half timbering, leadlight as if broken and repaired, and an excellent gate. So cute. Brighton Road, cnr Maryville Street, Ripponlea #heritageprecinct. Cute inside too, with an original or maybe 50s, kitchen. Montrose, a nice Spanish - … Continue reading Interwar variety, Ripponlea →

Repost August 2018 when I made the effort to search out notable Edwardian houses : A fabbo house and surgery for Dr Armstrong built 1904, and designed by #UssherandKemp. I’ve known this one for ever, standing prominently on #CanterburyRoad Canterbury, no trees in the 70s, so quite visible, and all the woodwork was white. Im … Continue reading Edwardian in Canterbury, birthplace of dragons →

Repost this day 2019: Very impressive #terracehouses on #FitzroyStreetStKilda which you can only see in winter really. Built 1882, architect not known, and a third one was demolished in 1970 😮 for a little 2 storey brown brick nothing. Not sure when but the two were combined, prob early on as a guest house, and … Continue reading Grand Terraces, Fitzroy Street →