30 July 2018: Extraordinary glamorous 1988 house by #HolgarandHolgar at 57 #StGeorgesRoadToorak. Classical but reinterpreted through 70s curvy and diagonal transformations. The rounded curved corners of the front are rather Gaudi but the white and gold inside is a bit gaudy. Wrapped around a tennis court with an indoor pool in the rear wing and … Continue reading Holgar mansion in Toorak →

Repost this day 2018: #XavierChapel, #SchreiberandJorgenson, designed by #OleJorgensen 1925, built 1927-34. Seen this from Bakers Road since I was a kid, finally got in, thanks #MelbourneOpenHouse. This is essentially a large Baroque style church, with the 3 domes, but simplified, with a Neoclassical Ionic portico, rather huge for a school chapel. Apparently it’s had … Continue reading Xavier Chapel, Kew →

29 July 2019: Truly spectacular- #TayCreggan in #Hawthorn was open today for the first time (I think) for #openhousemelbourne2019. Designed by #GuyonPurchas (son of #AlfredPurchas) as his own house in 1891-2 but the depression hit and he had to sell it, possibly unfinished. But he came back to do alterations for the new owners in … Continue reading Tay Creggan, Hawthorn →

Repost 2018: Finally got to see inside #SacredHeartStKilda, #JosephReedArchitect; surprisingly only the front part of the nave built in 1884, the side aisles and the altar end added in 1922 (after a fire- must’ve been short and tall looking !), but reportedly completing the Reed design (certainly the sides match the front perfectly). The Reed … Continue reading Sacred Heart St Kilda →

28 July 2018: The #EsplanadeVaults: Having known there were ex-shops under the #UpperEsplanade for like 30 years, finally seen them, thanks #OpenHouseMelbourne. Built 1891 when the Esplanade was rebuilt to carry #cabletrams, these 10 shops did fine until increasing traffic on the #LowerEsplanade led to removing the verandahs in the 50s and finally bricking them … Continue reading Esplanade Vaults →

July 2021 Nice block of #ArtDecoflats in Park Street South Yarra, built 1936. Can’t find the architect, but then it’s nice rather than really interesting- great wrought iron front gate-door, though probably not original. Seems like single owner until 2014, when sold for $4.4m, though as a set of six titles. Only rented since then. … Continue reading Deco flats Park Street South Yarra →

27 July 2021, updated : Kia Ora, #StKildaRoad, one of those places you know from the tram, a big set of #ArtDecoFlats, built 1936/37 in two stages (replacing a 19thC mansion and the house next door, only 12 years old). Designed by Lewis Levy in a smart streamlined mode, but most interestingly, the 60 flats … Continue reading Kia Ora, St Kilda Road →

3 October 2024 I first posted the amazing interior of the 1996 Paramount Centre in Bourke Street in 2015 on Instagram then again in 2019, finding new delight in it. Now an updated post because other people now like it too - @memo_review has just published an article on it, a testament to the questions … Continue reading Paramount Postmodernism on Bourke Street →

17 September 2025 The thing about Park Street South Yarra is that there’s so much great stuff, and it’s pretty much all 1880s to 1930s, no more than three floors, and tightly packed too, so it feels very urban. The east side must have been some kind of hill, so there’s a lot of stair … Continue reading Park Street, South Yarra →

Repost 2019: The #cabletram #enginehouse on the corner of Nicholson & Gertrude Street, with that cute but rather precarious corner oriel/tower room, a #signalcabin, where a man must’ve sat for hours making sure the Clifton Hill trams went round the corner, and the North Fitzroy trams went straight ahead. Required skill and timing since the … Continue reading Cable Tram Engine House Fitzroy →