Here’s something I didn’t know - our fabbo Gothic Bank had siblings ! Architect William Wardell did more work for the ES&A bank, starting with the Adelaide branch in 1883 (sadly demolished in 1965); it had very similar feel, matching first floor windows and balconettes, and a similar door, very fine. He then designed our … Continue reading William Wardell x 3 →

1 February 2019 You might have wondered what these fine #castiron gates on #LonsdaleStreet near the County Court are doing here, since they open onto a modern walkway. The answer is that they’re all that’s left of a fabbo #VictorianMansion that once stood here. It was called #Rostella, and was built in 1869 for eminent … Continue reading Rostella, Lonsdale Street, 1869/1887 →

Holt’s Chambers in #ChapelStreetPrahran is I think the only large pre WW2 #officebuilding outside the CBD - thought it was a department store like the other big buildings along here, but no, it’s a Chambers, which had 4 shops, electric lifts, and the Gainsborough Photographic Studios on the top floor. Designed by A H Fisher, … Continue reading Holts Chambers, Chapel Street Prahran, an Edwardian office block →

Revealed temporarily- the back of an 1856 #bluestone #warehouse on Flinders Street (Dangerfield), and the #ghostbuilding outline of the Deco Coles building on the sheer wall of the #NicholasBuilding (don’t ask me why there was a Coles here). All this will become an ‘over station development’ opportunity, but I’d really like to know now, will … Continue reading Melbourne Metro hole in the city post No 2 →

Sad to hear #CherryBar is leaving due to sale of the building, not that I ever went there, but not surprised either, given the lanes have (nearly) all been well and truly ‘discovered’ now, and can command higher rents, even the #graffitiart attracts tourists (as here) rather than making it extra grungy for low rent … Continue reading Cherry Bar, AC/DC Lane. →

Melbourne’s only #birdcagelift (or at least the only one I know of not in a Collins street club) ! Look at that curly #wroughtiron ! Made OH&S safe by simply screwing #Perspex over the grills. There are others where the outside survives, but they’re modern inside. This one apparently c1921, sitting practically on the street … Continue reading Birdcage Lift, c1921. →

August 2019 Great #Guggenheim inspired brick drum of the 1961 #BrightonMunicipalOffices by #OakleyAndParkes, principal architect Kevin Knight, looms over the back street of #BrightonVictoria. The actual council chamber is up there, accessed by a spiral ramp, furniture by Grant Featherstone, with some crazy art-column as a feature by Latvian born Alnis Ansons. So very #FrankLloydWright, … Continue reading Brighton Council Chamber, 1961 →

Not a lot to see (#damntrees) but this 1920 #blockofflats in Barkly Street #StKilda is important because it’s a very early example of #OldEnglish (aka #MockTudor), though this case it’s also a bit Arts & Crafts, look at those #shingles, needs a paint badly though. Designed by #ArthurPlaisted, who did lots of flats, and it’s … Continue reading Early Early English, Arthur Plaisted in St Kilda, 1920. →

Another #IGAnderson creation from 1935, possibly the best one, #OstendFlats, sits boldly on the ‘golden mile’ of #BrightonVictoria, the only bit where properties have beach frontage, and this is the only #blockofflats. Great series of horizontal curves, opposed by the vertical stepped feature of the ‘tower’. Those things at the bottom were #boatsheds, not sure … Continue reading ‘Ostend’, fab Deco in Brighton →

5 February 2019 The really very interesting Avenue Court by #IGAnderson, 1934. Described at the time as showing how ‘deeply the machine era is impressing itself on residential work’, I guess meaning it was new and different and modem, rather than implying stark modernism, coz this is more about plastic overlapping curved forms than square … Continue reading Avenue Court, I G Anderson, 1934. →