8 August 2025 Hadn’t really noticed this one before, but there it is, sticking up above the now very expensive Victorian cottages off Victoria Avenue, Albert Park. Like all the other Housing Commission towers, it would have been built in the 60s (update it was 1966), using the same pebble-dash precast panels from their factory … Continue reading Little Housing Commission tower →

7 August 2025 A bit of brassy bling on Collins Street - Cartier has been in 90 Collins Street since 2017, then spent much of last year renovating inside and giving the facade a make-over, by French architects Bidard & Raisisui - it’s nice, elegant even, lots of fluting. But really compared to the elaborate … Continue reading Cartier and Capers on Collins →

3 August 2025 This house still stands at 25 Queens Road, one of the dozen or so mansions left there or on St Kilda Road - it’s great, but the main front is obscured by planting. It’s a very vigorous example of Gothic style, with multiple bays and many gables, each with their carved barge … Continue reading Bendigonia, Queens Road →

2 August 2025 A house in Dandenong Road East St Kilda that’s seen better days - and pretty notable too. It’s called Broxted, and was built in 1918 by Howard Lawson as his own home. He was a pretty prolific architect /developer, starting out about 1912, best known for the 1930s Beverly Hills flats in … Continue reading Early Howard Lawson →

31 July 2025 Slightly spooky old house in Creswick Street Hawthorn - I knew it was old, didn’t realise how old ! Might be 1845 when JD Pinnock bought this whole chunk of Hawthorn. Or might be a bit later. Designed by John Gill, an early colonial architect, in a simple picturesque Gothic style, with … Continue reading Gothic in Hawthorn →

30 July No words. I mean, I could say a lot, but basically it’s just baffling. Spring Road, Malvern.

30 July 2025 The fountain in the Malvern Public Garden looked fabulous in the winter sun yesterday. It’s also known as the Spring Road Gardens, and the fountain is a memory of the spring that once sprang here. The gardens were opened in 1890, and the lake and fountain were built by Charles Robintte, a … Continue reading Spring Road Gardens →

29 July 2025 What a show off for a school ! This rather amazing tower was added to Malvern State School in 1890, when the Public Works Department was being more experimental - it’s a bit medieval Italian, but also influenced by the ‘brutes’ strand of the Victorian Gothic Revival. It was part of an … Continue reading Malvern State School →

July 2025 Pretty in pink ! Made it to Marne Street South Yarra today while the sun was shining, and this one stood out in all its frilly Spanish finery (the best bits are only top and bottom, but that ok!). Marne Court was built in 1930, designed by Gordon J Sutherland, and I think … Continue reading Marne Street, so many interesting flats →

17 July 2025 A bit of Lost Melbourne - this is Lister House, cnr of Collins and Exhibition, and once very much a part of the Paris End character. It was built in 1915, and housed purpose built Drs surgeries (hence the name) on the first three floors, with three floors of flats above, part … Continue reading Lister House →