I noticed something going on at the front of the Palais the other day- and this is it ! A big change and not sure I like it. Grass and plants and plaza instead of road is great but I would have maybe acknowledged the theatre a bit more - kept a diagonal view from … Continue reading Palais forecourt design →

Blair House, 17 St George’s Road, Toorak; a nice but not exceptional 1936 Georgian Revival design by Hughes & Orme (never heard of them I admit). Recently sold for the second highest price in Melb, $75 mill. Beautiful large gardens. It’s protected by a Heritage Overlay, so should be with us a while yet. Photos … Continue reading Top price in Toorak →

5 January 2021 The exotically named ‘Cairo’, Nicholson Street Fitzroy - a set of ‘bachelor flats’ with those famous cantilevered stairs. Many flats are compact #bedsits, with huge windows mostly facing north, with little balconies, so very light (perhaps too light in summer before the trees grew?). There’s 26 of those, while another 10 are … Continue reading Cairo, Fitzroy →

Spotted in Wellington Street St Kilda - and I like it ! Stacked shiny boxes. A bit crazy big for a house, but built for builder David McCallum and partner and children and their partners - some of the bedrooms are the size of a one bed flat or studio, but they shared the huge … Continue reading Stacked boxes in St Kilda →

July 2022 Proposed office tower behind the Comedy Theatre - looks like half is on a separate site (now a carpark) and half perhaps over the back stage, partly cantilevered structurally. That part actually on the Comedy site has to be approved by #HeritageVictoria, so there’s a long process. They might not like it, but … Continue reading Comedy Theatre tower proposal →

Above the awnings - St Mathew’s Church Hall and Sunday School, High Street Prahran near Chapel Street, 1891, Laver & Fick. Great bit of Gothic Revival, unusually large for a church hall, and built on the street, and across a side street from the actual church (which was never finished and cut in half inside … Continue reading St Mathews Church Hall Prahran →

Some more Lost Melbourne. Here is a selection of some of the Victorian skyscrapers all built between 1888 and 1891 and all now gone. They were built on the strength of a boom in land values which crashed in 1892, and the use of hydraulic elevators powered by a pressurised water system under the streets. … Continue reading Lost Victorian Skyscrapers →

This is the Flinders Street Station we nearly got ! Rather similar to what was actually built, no surprise when you know the background. On 28 July 1898, the Railway Commissioners released a design for a new 'Central Railway Station', published in the leader on 30 July 1898. There was a big dome on the … Continue reading Flinders Street Station prequel →

2021, updated 2026 This is the amazing but long gone Equitable Building, nw cnr of Collins and Elizabeth. It was designed about 1890, and took 6 years to build, out of load bearing granite and thick brick walls and an internal steel frame (I think). It was designed by Edward E Raht, German born, Paris … Continue reading Equitable Building, via New York →

Finally got to the city to see some things for myself - like Nauru House and the newish 80 Collins finished - separated by a 6m gap ! There weren’t any rules that anyone taking any notice of when this one got a permit in 2011. And looks like there’s a similar gap to the … Continue reading 80 Collins, ex Nauru House →