Repost this day 2018: #PolychromeBrick - how to do a lot with a little. A hall-like church with a lot going on in just the front wall; various elements thrust forward slightly, and outlined in special notched #voussoir bricks in two colours, and two different arches too. #MethodistChurch in #NicholsonStreet #NorthFitzroy, built 1874, designed by … Continue reading Polychrome Church, 1874 →

Repost this day 2018: The impressive Ukrainian (Greek) Catholic Church cathedral of #SaintsPeterandPaul in #NorthMelbourne. As the second most common religion from a country that we didn’t get a lot of immigration from, they found a good site and built big ! By church specialists #SmithandTracey, finished 1963. Patterned brick, thin shell arches, a stylised … Continue reading Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, 1963 →

8 July 2017, updated 2025: McPhersons Showroom, Collins Street (near Spencer), 1936 (top floor 1938), Stuart P Calder with Reid&Pearson; built for the implement and tool makers, these huge long display windows were filled with #nutsandbolts and things like a #ballbearingbandsaw. Very stylish home for such products, and externally amazingly intact. This building is often … Continue reading Modernist McPhersons, Collins Street →

Repost this day 2015: One of the best examples of heritage retention while also building a tower - About 9 buildings were retained in full to form part of the podium of the 1992 #telstrahq #officetower by #PerrotLyonMathieson. Once the centre of the notorious #littlelon #slum, the whole block was cleared except the outside edges … Continue reading Preservation well done →

Repost this day 2019: Very nice #polychromebrick church(es) on Howe Crescent, #SouthMelbourne, built for the Congregationalists. Larger one is 1874, and was designed by #WHElleker (later joined with Kilburn and did the fab #cityofmelbournebuilding); the smaller but also nice thing next door was the first church, built only 6 years earlier, and then became the … Continue reading Congregational Church, South Melbourne →

Original post 17 April 2017: The grand #TandGBuilding, #CollinsStreet, #AandKHenderson, 1929, enlarged to the right and taller #tower 1939 (and to the rear in 1959). The largest #interwarmelbourne #officblock, the HQ for the once huge #TemperanceandGeneral Insurance business, with mini versions of this in capital cities and many smaller towns across Australia and New Zealand, … Continue reading T & G Building →

5 July 2021 More #LostMelbourne, the rather chunky but impressive home of the #YWCAMelbourne, built in 1913, on Russell Street just down from Collins. Sadly demolished in the mid 70s, the big site eventually becoming the #GrandHyattMelbourne which opened in 1983. Designed by #NahumBarnet at the height of his long prolific career, when he was … Continue reading YWCA, Nahum Barnet →

Sad to report that the mutilation of Mary Immaculate in Ivanhoe has begun (photo Graeme Butler ) - and I do think full demolition would have been preferable. They’ve taken off the lady chapel with its great stained glass, then removing original features like the doors and glass screen behind the altar, then adding to … Continue reading Church desecration in Ivanhoe →

Another fine Moderne/ArtDeco house in Elwood Street Brighton, which looks a lot like the Armadale one I posted recently- and yes designer #IGAnderson recycled the ideas (probably it was him) - and apparently someone sued someone over it. I think the big glazed part on the left is a recentish addition. It’s a huge block … Continue reading Moderne mansion in Brighton →

3 July 2019, updated: Hadn’t really noticed this one before, in Elizabeth Street up from Collins, turns out to be a super narrow Victorian thing that was done over in early 1930 for Ackman’s Furniture, who’s main store was in Smith Street (behind that propped up Woolworths facade). See the A on top ? The … Continue reading Ackmans in Elizabeth Street, 1930 →