10 December 2023 Some photos from the Balwyn and North Balwyn heritage peer review - 18 places, mostly houses, going forward for heritage protection. I’m sure there’s more (or were more - some were proposed in 2015), but the good councillors at the @cityofboroondara have always been wary of the idea that modern can be … Continue reading Balwyn Modern →

2 February 2025 Pride March over, time for architecture! The wild curvy Pride Centre in Fitzroy Street, first pic just after the parade, others a week ago - as I said in 2021, the design, by @grantamonarchitects and @bauarchitects.urbanists, doesn’t attempt to represent LGBTQI in some obvious way (thank goodness) but instead was inspired by … Continue reading Victorian Pride Centre, St Kilda →

10 December 2023 Odd little survivor on Chapel Street, sandwiched between Dan Murphy’s and a Kathmandu. The arches now all blocked off on the upper floor perhaps once big windows. It goes right back to the carpark - and I now see the back end has a sign for the Big Store and a nice … Continue reading Big Store walkway Chapel Street →

Original post 7 December 2018: Harcourt & Parry Drapery, 1888, by #CrouchandWilson, sits very grandly in Park Street #SouthMelbourne, near the Town Hall; and unusually the facade is made of carved stone, and there’s a little tower, and you can see ‘H&P’ in lovely curly script up there. It was I guess a mini department … Continue reading Very big store, South Melbourne →

Original post 8 December 2020 Great shot of a bit of #LostMelbourne; one of the once numerous tall thin buildings in the central CBD, ‘The Strand’ was on Elizabeth Street, almost next to the great #ANZRoyalBankBranch. It was built in 1929, architects #PeckAndKemter, in a Gothic skyscraper style clearly drawing on NY precedents like the … Continue reading The Strand, Elizabeth Street →

Original post 7 December 2018 I didn’t think much of this till I got up close - #Banksia, at the #MelbourneDocklands, by McBride Charles Ryan, finished last year - the spiky bits are really spiky ! And #curvalicious, and moulded, I do like the legs and the crown. Won a few prizes. Still think it … Continue reading Banksia, Docklands →

4 December 2023 Just real estate photos but it’s petty special. The Lippincott house was built in 1917, and is nothing like the late Edwardian houses of the era - in fact it looks rather 70s ! It was built for Roy Lippincott, who was an architect in the office of Walter and Marion Griffin, … Continue reading Lippincott House, Eaglemont →

Original post 6 December 2017: Various delightful details of the recently repainted Flinders Street Station in a nice pinky beige : 1, 2. the beautiful #artnouveau #stainedglass above the entry, designed by #JamesFawcett, one of the stations designers, who also designed pressed metal ceilings and objects; 3. close up of one of the decorative #cartouche … Continue reading Flinders Street Station details →

Original post 5 December 2017: Westray Villa, Canning Street, #NorthCarlton, 1881. A fully intact parapet for my #melbterraceparapet collection. This is elaborate but pretty typical, with a central #clamshell, #ladyface #keystone, but it’s got its urns, complete with spikes. It’s the only fully intact one in a row of 10, so maybe it’s the only … Continue reading Terrace parapets →

Original post 3 December 2020 Some of my snapshots of Bombay in Feb 1985 - lots of grand Raj era Venetian Gothic (what I’d come to see), bullock carts in the insane traffic, an Indo-Saracenic style house, a surprising amount of Deco, and a general sense of decay.