26 June 2026 Well this is super depressing - Lendlease actually wants to go to nearly twice the MANDATORY 40m height limit for their boring office project above Town Hall Station around Young & Jacksons, and it’s entirely up to the Minister Sonya Kilkenny to say yes or no, without any public process. I thought … Continue reading City gateway site overshadowed →

June 2026 Tanner Street near to Richmond Station is dominated by a bunch of big old factories that were built for the Australian Knitting Mills. I don’t know exact dates but they look 1920s and 30s, and there are at least three blocks, and there’s a great walkway between two of them, running under some … Continue reading Richmond Station Industrial →

June 2026 There must have been some competition amongst the backs in the late 19th C in the Glenferrie /Burwood Road precinct, maybe it was indeed a wealthy area - the ES&A did their Gothic one in 1873 (pic 9), then in 1890 the Melb Savings Bank did their elaborate one opposite the town hall … Continue reading Glenferrie Road shops →

June 2026 A great bit of 1873 Gothic Revival in Burwood Road Hawthorn - which feels a bit enigmatic, since it’s near but not part of the shopping strip down Glenferrie Road. It was actually built as a bank, for the ES&A, which had decided to go for impressive Gothic instead of the usual sober … Continue reading Glenferrie Gothic →

June 2026 1866 vs 2015. This terrace on the corner of Brunswick & Gertrude has been here since 1856, making it one of the oldest still around. You might have thought terraces were as old as Melb but though the first ones were around 1840 in the cbd, soon also appearing in the closest parts … Continue reading The other Royal Terrace →

June 2026 This development on the site of Leo’s supermarket in Kew Junction was recently approved by the State Govt, and I’m surprised there hasn’t been more hoo-ha, I guess that’s what happens when there’s few details to see and no opportunity to comment. The renders are all just slices, rather than the whole thing. … Continue reading Big blocks in Kew →

June 2026 Glenferrie Station - part of my teenage school years, and not much changed ! Built 1916 as part of regrading the line to Camberwell, it was designed with very generous proportions, in a bold but simple Edwardian style, designed by Victorian Railways architect Edward Ballard, under JW Hardy. I love the huge arches, … Continue reading Glenferrie Station →

May 2026 A very unusual almost whacky house in Union Street Richmond, a narrow side street off Bridge Road top of the hill hear Lennox. It was built c1859 for surgeon James Robertson, who may have designed it himself, or it was a builder, it doesn’t look like anything architects of the day would have … Continue reading Early mini mansion on Richmond Hill →

May 2026 The unfeasibly elaborate Royal Hotel on Nelson Place Williamstown was built at the height of the boom in 1890, when the Williamstown Advertiser thought the nearby piers and docks would put licensee Mr DeWardt ‘on the right road to fortune’. His architect was T Anthoness, who didn’t do much I can find except … Continue reading Royal Hotel Williamstown →

May 2026 The very nice if relatively plain ES&A bank on Nelson Place in Williamstown was built in 1873, and must’ve been by far the grandest building there until larger shops were built in the 1880s. Gothic style banks were very rare amongst the much more numerous Classical ones; this was designed by Leonard Terry, … Continue reading Nelson Place Williamstown →