21 November 2018 Taradale, #BrightonRoad, #Elwood, 1936, Walter Mason; went looking for this one (it’s practically in Glenhuntly!) thinking it was by Esmond Dorney - it’s got his signature #semicircular balcony projections, and great modelling overall of horizontals and verticals - but it’s not ! Don’t know much about Walter Mason except he did the … Continue reading Taradale, Elwood, 1936, not Esmond Dorney →

November 2018 My favourite bit of #streetscape in #Melbourne, a whole strip of crunchy, masonry facades, all #ragtrade #warehouses built 1898-1940. It’s the south side of #FlindersLane looking west from #SwanstonStreet. Everything is under the 99ft #heightlimit (the limit on the big streets was higher, 132ft- that limit was reimposed in 1982 thankfully). So the … Continue reading Flinders Lane streetscape is the best ! →

One of #myfavouritebuildings, the McCray & Way film company offices of 1983, down #FrancisLane in #SouthMelbourne, but #Biltmoderne, the original name of #starchitects @wood_marsh (when they had three partners). This is one of their few early works still intact. Almost the definition of #Postmodernism; a bit of #baroque and bit of #Victorian (pressed cement bosses … Continue reading Postmodern delight : McCray & Way film company, 1983, South Melbourne, Biltmoderne →

A series of excellent Victorian parapets in #clarendonstreetsouthmelbourne, a bit larger and more elaborate than usual - and there’s one with a book, must’ve been a bookshop, and another with a #wheatsheaf for a bakery ! #melbterraceparapets

Fab #CoatofArms, probably from the 1880s, well before #Federation, but it was being talked about, and designs similar to this were popular - this seems to the #MelbourneCoatofArms with a lively #emu and #kangaroo flanking. Love the extra Baroque #brokenpediment too. #ClarendonStreetSouthMelbourne.

18 November 2018: #FlindersStreetStation #tiles in the #DegravesStreetSubway all cleaned and broken ones replaced, very schmick. Second photo looks blurry but its tiles that havnt been cleaned. The new tiles are whiter, or maybe they’re old patching ? Not sure. The tiles in the toilets are more even. Very hard to exactly match old #crazedtiles. … Continue reading Flinders Street Station tiles →

This is the sort of place my mother used to call #workingmanscottage- an excellent example of a little #VictorianTerrace in #DorcasStreet, #SouthMelbourne, with intact #tuckpointing on the #polychromebrick, Victorian colour scheme, even a good plain #picketfence, rather than an overly ornate one. Probably intact because it’s on the #EmeraldHillEstate, the whole block that was was … Continue reading Lovely brick cottage, South Melbourne →

14 November 2018 Monaco House, #McBrideCharlesRyan, 2007; a crinkled corner pointing up to the sky on a tiny side lane, love it; and now that I look it up properly, I want to see inside too ! Pretend I’m emigrating to Monaco ? Cute little pop of purple, a signature colour of theirs. A bit … Continue reading Origami Architecture →

November 2018 😮 Went looking for St Kiernan flats on the #OrmondEsplanade, designed by #EsmondDorney, and built in 1939 - and found this ! Got a permit 2 years ago to ‘restore to 30s grandeur with new apartments with beach views’ but the one-line planning permission I found didn’t say ‘keep only three exterior walls’ … Continue reading Just a facade : St Kiernan flats, Elwood. →

8 November 2018 Love it. #RoyalMailHouse, #SwanstonStreet, 1963, #DGraemeLumsden, possibly the most high profile example of #MidCenturyModernMelbourne that comes from the fun, decorative, stream rather than pure minimalist or structuralist. Anyway, still looks good despite losing (for no particular reason !) about 15 years ago the verticals that joined the projecting window hoods, making it … Continue reading Op Art Architecture: Royal Mail House, 1963 →