11 July 2025 This pair of bluestone terraces in Malvern Road a few blocks past Chapel Street are remarkably early survivors for the area, dating from 1864. They were built for stonemason and builder James Hole, who later became a councillor of the City of Prahran. The fiddly verandah valance on the right one is … Continue reading Untouched, Malvern Road →

9 July 2025 Havnt seen pollarding like this since the 70s ! But helps reveal the cute Regency-ish flats behind at 7 Wallace Avenue Toorak, just near the village. Real estate sites say 1930s, probably right, but can’t find out anything more. Love the way the rounded bays form towers, and the double curve balconies … Continue reading Regency in Toorak →

8 July 2025 Im not usually a fan of local government commissioned public art, but this one is rather cheery. It was chosen in a competition by the former City of St Kilda in 1993; they asked for something nautical, so the obvious choice was to depict The Lady of St Kilda, the ship that … Continue reading The Lady of St Kilda →

7 July 2025 This Spanish style house in Eildon Road stands out for its scale, at two storeys when most in the style are just villas. There’s a cute upstairs loggia with barleycorn columns, and rounded roof tiles. There’s more interesting details, but obscured by the vines, so I was rather surprised to see in … Continue reading Speccy Spanish, St Kilda →

6 July 2025 Would you believe Hoddle Street and Punt Road weren’t connected by road until 1938? It must have been so quiet up on the hill. Punt Road got its name from a punt established in 1842, which was joined (or replaced) by a footbridge in 1895. The first photo is 1922, which clearly … Continue reading No punt road bridge →

3 July 2025 There are countless numbers of these smallish contemporary apartment things on the main roads, some of them don’t try, some try too hard - like this one in Malvern Road Malvern. Big blocky angular horizontals, the corner ones picked out in an orangy brown, maybe supposed to be gold ? I guess … Continue reading Trying too hard →

1 July 2025 I’ve always thought the Richmond Town Hall was a rather clunky design, blocky volumes and with great huge legs on the street. It must have been a case of wanting the opposite of what you had, because it’s actually a do-over of the original 1870 town hall, a design by Charles Vickers … Continue reading Richmond Town Hall →

30 June 2025 This grand Gothic pile on Malvern Road South Yarra was built as the Prahran State School in 1874. It’s rather more dour than many of the other similar schools, with a bit less of a picturesque arrangement and less decoration, though maybe a clean would help. It was one of the first … Continue reading Prahran State School →

26 June 2025 The Buckley Street underpass in Essendon in July 2019, about 10 months after it was finished - it’s a bit garish ! Even a bit unreal. But a neat solution for removing the level crossing. There’s some extra planting where the road used to be, and the station, built in 1909 and … Continue reading Road under rail →

27 June 2025 One of the rare houses scattered around Melbourne by Walter Burley Griffin or his associates, this house on Balaclava Road East St Kilda was designed by EF Billson, who was Griffins first employee in 1916 (when he was still doing the architecture course at Melbourne University). It dates from 1925 (or 1919 … Continue reading Burley Griffin style →