Repost 2016: The Great Fire of Melbourne in 1897. One of the biggest things to happen in the CBD, but largely forgotten. Starting in the giant Craig Williamson Department Store on Elizabeth Street in the early hours of Sunday November 20th, it soon grew to destroy nearly the whole block between Flinders, Elizabeth, Flinders Lane, … Continue reading The Great Fire of 1897 →

I do like #FedSquare but if there’s nothing on, then the back end is empty and it’s very uninviting, usually in the shade, cold, the black wall of the ‘crossbar’, an empty bar, the sheer glass wall- I do think that maybe there should be something there ? Like an elevated bar with views towards … Continue reading Fed Square – some improvements? →

Repost 2018 : There isn’t really a #goodangle for St Michaels Church Melbourne; all the skyscrapers behind it kind of detract, though in real life you can subconsciously #editthemout. It’s by #ReedandBarnes (#JosephReedArchitect), 1867, and the first full blown #polychromebrick design in Melbourne, which Reed himself said was inspired by the medieval churches of Lombardy, … Continue reading St Michael’s / Independent Church, 1867 →

Repost 2019: The late 1920s flats and houses on Windermere Ave- land that was the grounds of the #VictorianMansion Rothermere in #Elwood - are great ! Now Windermere Ave. Quite photogenic too because not that much garden in front, but mostly enough to soften the edges. Great names too; the corner one Neville Court has … Continue reading Elwood flats, Windermere Ave →

August 2017: The #AustralianClub, the other great #mensclub after the Melbourne Club, built for the businessmen and squatters whose offices and storehouses were at this end of town. The main part was built in 1879 designed by #LloydTayler, extended to the lane behind in 1884. Then in 1890 they decided to enlarge it with four … Continue reading Australian Club, William Street →

Repost 2019: Another Sunday drive through #Caulfield - 3 #BickhamsCourt #EastStKilda, apparently won the #HouseoftheYear1962 ! [not sure about that but the architect was Robert Rosh]. Got it all, huge windows, slate walls, hovering flat roof, stripy basement garage door, fun #wroughtiron grill entry, #pergola, and a gray curved side fence in black & white … Continue reading Bickhams Court East St Kilda, Modernist enclave. →

Repost 2017: #Urbrea, #JABKoch, c1900, a pair of houses that looks like a single mansion - the #toweredentrance actually belongs to the #castironlace #verandah part. Done over in #cementitiouspaint in I think the 90s, looks like #limewash but takes far longer to actually wash off. Nice #patina. Reinstating the colour of which traces clearly there … Continue reading Urbrae Punt Road →

25 August 2019: The other kind of #MansionFlat; a #VictorianMansion turned into flats ! This one rather leaps out on #HennesseyStreet street in #Elwood, surrounded by interwar flats. Designed by #DavidAskew (of #TwentymanandAskew) and built 1891 for Joseph Syme, nephew of #DavidSyme who ran #TheAgeNewspaper for 30 years. For a while that was in partnership … Continue reading Rothermere, Elwood mansion flats →

Repost 2018: #GhostSigns on side of what was built as the #BlackEagleHotel in 1850, though it looks like shop with a matching house. #Delicensed in 1908 it was workshops longer than it was a pub. Looking a bit leftover with the construction of #JohnWardle’s #50Lonsdale in 2006, the signs once pointing to businesses down #LittleCasseldenStreet … Continue reading Black Eagle Hotel, 1850 →

Repost 2017: #CastIronStreetLamp, #WilliamStreetMelbourne, erected 1929/30, one of only 2 left of dozens that once lined the streets of the #MelbCBD. The other is across the road down the hill. Don't know why these two remained while all the others were replaced in the 1960s with modern street lamps. Many ended up in the gardens … Continue reading Old electric street lamps – double headed variety →