Original post 3 April 2019: I was involved (somehow) about 8 years ago when the tram top was being planned here, and tried to get it moved a bit further to the left, but there was gas line in the way…but it doesn’t look too bad. @ Luna Park Melbourne

Deltham, 1936, #EsmondDorney, Meredith St, Elwood; not great shots with all the shadows, but you get the picture. Dorney’s Art Deco was quite distinctive, he liked curves in his plans (here is the stairwell), and the top has complex rectangular stuff going on. The top floor front flat sold in 2017 for $1.2 mill (😮).

A fine early house mostly hidden behind a tall fence and lovely garden in my street. Might be 1850s, maybe a bit later, prob built with the house next door (even more obscured), but they have different verandahs - I think this one likely the original or at least early one. Last sold 2004 for … Continue reading Early houses in Dalgety Street →

Repost from 1 April 2019: Love the #brickwork at #WindsorStation (1886)- even though it’s mostly quite dark #HawthornBricks the overall effect is quite rich, and there’s loads of #tuckpointing, the ticket area I think is original. Also love that it’s so wonderfully three-dimensional, with a top floor managers room (residence ?) sticking up above the … Continue reading Windsor Station, 1886 →

😢 to see some destruction of our Postmodern heritage at the Centreway Arcade, most notably the hidden artwork at first floor level - letters which spelled out the anti-capitalist message “we live in a society that places an inordinate value in goods and services", which has been replaced by a blank wall. Why on earth … Continue reading Postmodern loss at the Centreway Arcade →

23 December 2021 I shouldn’t be surprised but I am - a proposal to plonk a second tower behind Harry Seidler’s 1988 #ShellBuilding; I’m not a huge huge fan but I defend it’s right to exist unmolested, especially since it’s on the VHR, and the only justification is the not really supported assertion that the … Continue reading Shell House – squeezing in a second tower →

Original post 31 March 2017 : #MenziesBuilding (aka #MingWing), #MonashUniversity, #EgglestonMacDonaldandSecomb, 1964, detail. It's modernist, but not purist, with the vertical ribs notched, and the ##spandrelpanels scored, and a darker shade. At the base there's a hint of #arcade, with an actual #undercroft too. More variety provided by the various positions of the shutters. The … Continue reading Ming Wing at Monash →

Byram, Kew, 1888, t one of the most fantastic #lostmansions ever built in Melbourne. A fine essay in the Queen Anne style, and very much as practiced in the US (#stickstyle), creating a precursor to the later local Edwardian style (see the fat verandah #turnedtimber posts?). It was designed by #EGKilburn (of #EllerkerAndKilburn), and had … Continue reading Bryam / Goathland / Tara Hall, Kew →

Original post 31 March 2018: #VillageBelleHotel #StKilda, 1891 (replacing the 1855 original), now with its new glass beer garden, and a year before, under construction. Pleased they reinstated the #balustrade #parapet and orbs, but displeased not the foreground arched windows (I hadn’t seen the old photo till now), nor the #OrlandoWines sign they took off … Continue reading Village Belle, St Kilda, restored. →

The #StateGovernmentOffices at 1 Macarthur Street were completed in 1966; the design by #YunckenFreeman famously won a competition despite not putting the tower behind the #OldTreasury as they were supposed to, but this is of course the better solution. The State Chemistry Lab behind added in 1969 is in a far more solid #precastconcrete form, … Continue reading State Government Offices – doesn’t need palm trees. →