Repost this day 2018: #RailwaysAdministrationBuilding, #SpencerStreet, designed by the railways (and architect unknown, perhaps a committee?), 1893. Biggest office building in 19thC #Melbourne for the biggest employer in the state. Which grew a bit more adding a new Edwardian style top floor in 1912 (losing the big pediments and knobs) and another attic floor in … Continue reading Railways Administration Building →

This time in 2017 I was excited about the designs for the #MelbourneMetro CBD stations (designed by #HassellStudio with #WestonWilliamson, UK metro specialists) because they reminded me of the #MoscowMetro, where the stations are all great, eg the steel arches of #MayakovskayaStation, 1938. But the designs have changed since then, with #RogersSirkHarbour added, and now … Continue reading Metro station designs – could have done better →

18 July 2021 Hadn’t stopped to admire the 2017 #ABCSouthbank refresh till now, not bad, jazzy, not OTT, good signage, and SO much better than the 1994 original with that spindly little tower, by Peddle Thorpe (pic 3). The expansion and new facades are by @coxarchitecture, retaining the white tubular atrium of the original, which … Continue reading ABC Southbank →

This project was announced in 2015, and still hasn’t opened - but it’s probably complete. This is what I said in 2017: Finally found out where the 1880 dome viewing platform of the #RoyalExhibitionBuilding was located. Plans are progressing to make it accessible again, with a lift escape stair etc hidden within the south transept … Continue reading Dome Promenade at the REB →

Repost this day 2017: #KewSynagogue/ #KewHebrewCongregation, 1963, #BridgeHayden or just Tony Hayden; #repost from 2016 cos I just found photos of the interior, surprisingly traditional with that arched roof, seems like most of Melbourne’s modernist synagogues are traditional, certainly not shy to use decorative elements like the balcony front pattern here and the lush crystal … Continue reading Kew Synagogue →

The #VictorianPrideCentre is finished ! Or at least opened, I havnt been in yet - I took these photos last week. The design, by @grantamonarchitects and @bauarchitects.urbanists, doesn’t attempt to represent LGBTQI in some obvious way (thank goodness) but instead the exotic style of st kilda, as seen in the arches, re-interpreted as circles and … Continue reading Pride Centre completed →

Repost this day 2018: #MacRobertsonGirlsHigh (aka#MacRob), built in 1934 with funds provided by chocolate king #MacPhersonRobertson. Recently returned from Europe, young achitect #NormanSeabrook won the competition ushered in European #Modernism to Melbourne - or at least the Dutch post-expressionist bricky sort, as developed especially by #WillemDudok in the 1920s - #HilversumTownHall is the prime example, … Continue reading Macrob Modern →

I photographed this in 2014, then found out it was originally the #CollingwoodBowlsClub pavilion, probably from the 1880s, but they’d gone, leaving it to the Senior Citizens as Pioneer Hall, but not maintained, so looked like this. I knew it was a very rare example of #expressedtimberframe, where the cladding is only internal, and the … Continue reading Demolished c2015 without a whimper →

Repost 2021: I do like ACCA, great sculptural slabs of #cortensteel, at various angles, overlapping, set in a stark gravel expanse, with entry under a sharp point. Very Deconstructivist, a kind of late aspect of Postmodern, all about angular or ‘exploded’ forms. By @wood_marsh, completed 2002, a long way on from their 1992 fun little … Continue reading ACCA, folded rusty steel →

Repost this day 2018: The #MelbourneSynagogue was completed in 1930, in a conservative #NeoClassical (or is it Baroque) style, with a nice low #dome adding an eastern touch, but could easily be a grand church. Designed by #NahumBarnet, for which he came out of retirement when he was in his early 70s. Good site but … Continue reading Melbourne Synagogue, 1930 →