This is the best #backofatownhall ever ! Mainly because the then Emerald Hill Council leased an entire block that had been an orphan asylum on the eponymous hill, and put the hall in the middle, with axial streets front and back - most other town halls had to settle for corners or even mid blocks. … Continue reading Municipal grandeur →

Looks like staff orientation for the #EsplanadeHotel - they’re going to need them with 4 floors of bars and restaurants and live music too ! There’s nice classical features around the door which I don’t remember, they’ve even kept the cracked I suppose 60s terrazzo stairs, and the new glass roof over the front bar … Continue reading Ready to Rick’n’Roll: renovations at the Esplanade Hotel, St Kilda, 1878. →

The lesser seen but still impressive east face of #RipponLeaEstate, showing off that so-called #LombardicRomanesque #polychromebrick that #JosephReedArchitect introduced in the late 1860s, when the first stage of Frederick Sargood’s house was built. I guess this house is unique for amongst so many other features for having three impressive fronts - even the back is … Continue reading Rippon Lea historic house and garden, Elsternwick. →

Fisherman’s Pier restaurant, a most unexpected thing on the Geelong waterfront, a fabbo combo of #FrankLloydWright influence and fun #clamshell reference; designed by #ErminSmrekar, one of those European #emigrearchitect who designed way outside the mainstream of #MelbourneArchitecture. Ermin was from Trieste, and arrived in the 50s having studied architecture there, and brought the wild experimentation … Continue reading Really out there : Fishermans Pier Restaurant Geelong, Ermin Smrekar, 1971 →

12 November 2018 Very upsetting but I thought I should go. For those not from #Melbourne, the flowers are a tribute to Sisto Malaspina, co-owner of #Pellegrinis, who was killed by a wannabe terrorist/man with a #mentalillness, probably both, just 2 blocks away. Shocking when something like that happens to someone you know. Used to … Continue reading Pellegrini’s, Bourke Street – death of Sisto Malespina →

#RMITDesignHub, #SeanGodsell, 2012; popular with photographers for its #enigmaticminimalism, but you gotta somehow cut out the traffic, and ignore the towers built around in the 6 years since. (Funfacts : the discs were meant to be solar cells, odd idea given only some rotate, sideways, and something was built terribly wrong cos they all had … Continue reading RMIT Design Hub, Sean Godsell, 2012 →

The delightful and interesting #Southwold at 57 #AclandStreetStKilda; built in 1915 as a #maisonette, one independent flat above another, with the two entry doors side by side in the inset porch, a type popular in the UK at the time. (The pair of conventional Edwardian houses next door were built at the same time). There’s … Continue reading Southwold, Acland Street, St Kilda, 1915 maisonettes. →

A very curious house at 168 #ChurchStreetBrighton which I thought might have been the one made out of the gatehouse of the mad 1890s mansion Norwood that once stood on the Brighton foreshore, but no that’s a different one. This does have very #QueenAnne #stainedglasswindows, very square patterns, and also the stairs look QueenAnne, but … Continue reading Goombah, Church Street, Brighton, 1891; Phillip Treeby. →

Original post 4 April 2020 Boncap, 1935, L Garrard Cahn – a rather severe bit of #ArtDeco in #FitzroyStreetStKilda. One of the few blocks of flats in Melb built on a shopping strip with shops below - the others are mainly also here or in Acland Street. Great lines, though the balconies rather limit views … Continue reading Boncap, Fitzroy Street St Kilda, 1935 →

Victoria House, 220 #ClarendonStreetEastMelbourne, built 1914. The first flats built in Melbourne, just before during and after WW1, were often in this severe #redbrick form, rather than Edwardian or Arts & Crafts style, don’t ask me why! This one was designed by #PhillipHudson, best known for later joining with Janes Wardrop and winning the 1924 … Continue reading Early flats : Victoria House and Clarendon, East Melbourne →