Fantastic photo recently emerged of what we now call the #CathedralRoom at the #GothicBank in #CollinsStreet, taken by Charles Bristow Walker c1897 at the @nationallibraryaus. Shows that the #floortiling done in the 1991-3 restoration by @lovellchen was not even close and how the original skylight (down a 6 storey lightwell) which was the only natural … Continue reading Cathedral Room, Collins Street, then and now. →

Whaddayouthink ? The lovely #CathedralRoom at the #GothicBank in #CollinsStreet is proposed to be a cafe, which is fine, but the argument is that it isn’t viable without new doors in the end opening into a new space, making it bigger and leading onto a back lane. #HeritageVictoria is saying no, because it’s a major … Continue reading Cathedral Room doors – yay or nay ? →

8 July 2019: Always always always worth it - the #CityOfMelbourneBuilding is small but packs a punch, with all that wonderful eclectic detailing, a bit #Queenanne, and bit Flemish, a bit #FrenchRenaissance, and very pointy, complete with very tall totally intact #castiron #finials. Built 1888, designed by #EllerkerAndKilburn; #WHEllerker with Kilburn or on his own … Continue reading City of Melbourne Building, again →

11 July 2019 Worth an exception of leading with old photo because trees - another fabbo confection by noted flat designer #ArthurPlaisted - this time a crazy battlemented 1941 thing called ‘Castle Towers’ in #MarneStreet #SouthYarra, one of the very few ‘elevator flats’ built in Melbourne before WW2. Though at 5 floors not exactly highrise, … Continue reading Castle Towers, South Yarra →

July 2029 I do like a good bit of Mock Georgian Good Taste #sillyness- which I associate with the 1950s, but this one, ‘Coniston’, in Walsh Street #SouthYarra is actually c1940, designed by prolific flat architect Arthur Plaisted. A bit of a decorative cornice, some tall #multipanewindows, some Regency via Hollywood #wroughtiron, and fully fledged … Continue reading Good Taste Georgian →

8 July 2019 The rather splendid #EconomiserBuilding in #LittleBourkeStreet was built in 1908 as part of the #LonsdaleStreetPowerStation, first built by the #CityOfMelbourne in 1894 to supply the new fangled electric #streetlights. When the #UpperWestSide development was first proposed about 2010 it was going to be demolished along with the whole of the power station … Continue reading Lonsdale Street Power Station. →

Hadn’t really noticed this one before, in Elizabeth Street up from Collins, turns out to be a super narrow Victorian thing that was done over in early 1930 for Ackman’s Furniture (see the A’s up top ?); their main store was in Smith Street at what’s now the Woolworths facade. The redesign was by #GawlerAndDrummond. … Continue reading Victorian Tall Thin frontage, modernised 1930. →

I took this photo in Elizabeth Street just up from Collins in February and wondered what was going on- turns out it’s yet another building long abandoned above the ground floor (due to a crackdown on #fireregulations in the 70s) and like the one next door I posted yesterday it’s being restored as offices - … Continue reading An early foray into QueenAnne by Charles D’Ebro, 1889. →

July 2019 Not the best #trompeloeil but unless you were looking for it you prob wouldn’t notice. This strip of shops in #ClarendonStreetSouthMelbourne were all restored in the late 1970s and instead of recreating they did this ! Recently repainted. Pic 3 is mine from 2016. The whole block was owned by the Anglican Church … Continue reading At first glance … →

July 2019 This is Yarrabee in Walsh Street #SouthYarra, the less well known one of the really Quite Interesting #blocksofflats designed by German background, Swiss trained architect #FrederickRomberg, after he arrived in 1938 and before the war, as part of Romberg & Shaw, with #MaryTurnerShaw. Built in 1940, this one goes through to the ‘back’ … Continue reading Yarrabee, a bit of Bauhaus in Melbs, Romberg & Shaw, 1940. →