Repost 2016 (photo from 2013, then lots of photos from others including @tristan_davies) : The spooky, harry potterish #strongroom of the old #TitlesOffice. Note the shelves made of #slate, and narrow windows that have #castiron shutters outside, all in case of fire. This part might be 1870s or 1880s. It actually consisted of two double … Continue reading Titles Office strong room →

Repost 2018: Guard dog and giant two-towered, much-verandah’d #ToorakMansion #Sebrof in #OrrongRoad. 1884-5, Dalton & Gibbons, originally in 6 acres of grounds (and ok, it’s really #Armadale). 2021: not a lot of easy info in this one, not on the VHR, and the Trust citation has nil. @stonningtoncitycouncil entry though tells me it was bought … Continue reading Sebrof, Armadale →

Repost 2018: #OldandNew, the photo that always pops up as old #Melbourne contrasted with the new. Happened by accident I think; a large #Lshapedsite in#CollinsStreet created in the mid 70s bit by bit, not including the former women only #AlexandraClub, guess they didn’t want to sell (itself created by adding on both sides and the … Continue reading Old charm vs 80s glam →

3 September 2016 : Griffiths Tea Warehouse, 1900, #WardAndCarlton. By the 50s or so was occupied by the Herald, then it was Lindrums Billiards 1973-88. Then restored, paint cleaned off, to become the Lindrum Hotel in 1999 - now to be more or less facaded for another apartment and hotel tower. They’ll keep most of … Continue reading Griffiths Teas, and billiards →

Repost 2013 : Enterprise house 1976. Not only an #uglybuilding but replaced the fabulous 1888 #boomstyle #federalhotel. 2021: now Enterprise House has been demolished too, to be replaced by a huge lump of an office building, taking in the site to the left as well, designed by @coxarchitecture and @gensler_design.

Repost 2019: I’m a sucker for some good #GeorgianRevival, and this pair on Anderson Street South Yarra are fine indeed, and a bit quirky, two wide shallow joined houses. Designed by #GeorgeSommers, 1935. Im always a bit surprised when the real estate blurb mentions an architect I’ve never heard of, but then the Toorak/#SouthYarra axis … Continue reading Georgian, but gutted, South Yarra →

1 August 2021 Charsfield, St Kilda Road, 1889, designed by #CharlesWebbArchitect for Alfred Hodgson, who ran successful men’s wear business. This one built a bit closer to the street than others, and looks like the middle bit should have had a tower. It’s one of the 13 mansions left on St Kilda Road and Queens … Continue reading Charsfield, St Kilda Road →

Repost 2018: The wonderfully #dour but so #hardtophotograph former #MagistratesCourt. Built 1911-13, designed by #GBHAustin of the #PublicWorksDepartment in a very unusual ‘French Romanesque’ or Norman style, complete with clustered turrets and a chevron patterned copper roof. Matches the style of his Watch House next door from 1908, but that’s in render. The roughly stone … Continue reading Magistrates Court, 1913 →

Repost 2019, updated 2025: Fairlie, in Anderson Street South Yarra, designed by #YunckenFreeman Brothers, Griffith & Simpson, 1961, the first luxury postwar flats, and the most expensive at the time. Somehow it had passed me by until fairly recently - did I just never see it ? Pretty sure it didn’t appear in any modern … Continue reading Fairlie, South Yarra →

Repost 2017: The Wimmera, on Wimmera Place, one of the more interesting #ArtsandCraftsstyle flats in #StKilda. Built during WW1 in 1917, it's relatively early for flats in Melbourne, and like other early ones, it's a mix of stylistic influences, with Edwardian #redbrick piers creating a formal front of loggia/verandahs, but on the bay view side, … Continue reading The Wimmera, St Kilda →