Repost this day 2018: Carnong Courts, 29-33 #RobeStreetStKilda, another example of grand #terracehouses converted to flats - this was the 6 house Raglan Terrace, 1858, converted in 1926, designed by #AandKHenderson, in a sort of tall bungalow style. They took the internal stairs out, put stairs on the front, an extra floor, and combined the … Continue reading Carnong Courts, Robe Street →

Repost this day 2017: Former #MelbourneTeachersCollege, now part of #MelbourneUniversity, and called the #1888building (even though it was built 1889-91). By far the most OTT example of #queenanne plus #Elizabethan, or maybe it's #Jacobethan ? Architect #GBHAustin for the #PublicWorksDepartment. Impossible to take a photo of the whole building it's very wide, lots of trees … Continue reading Teachers College, 1888 →

I’m doing a bit of a survey of postwar churches, which by the early 60s became almost competitively look-at-me, so here’s a selection of the pointiest ones: Methodist, Katamatite, 1961, Muir & Shepherd; St Bernadette’s, East Ivanhoe, 1962, Robert Ellis; St Peter’s, Clayton, 1963, Ivan Anderson; the next four all by church specialist architect Keith … Continue reading Pointy Modern Churches →

3 July 2021 Sad to see the 1954 #APMBoilerHouse is now being demolished. It was added to the #HeritageRegister in 2017, due to its dynamic massing (especially the south side) and pioneering multi-storey all glass curtain wall - but thanks to a vocal local group that hated it, and a looming state election, Minister for … Continue reading APM Boiler House – demolition →

Another bit of #LostMelbourne, that only lasted about 25 years, and was demolished over 80 years ago - a nice Edwardian ‘chambers’ for doctors and dentists, built 1912, then in 1928 the large new #TandGbuilding opened next door- which expanded to twice the width in 1938, so it disappeared. The nice gabled one next to … Continue reading Lost Melbourne – but 80 years ago. →

Repost this day 2018- remember the pagoda ? And the slim box ? The campaign ? Which resulted in a review, handed down August last year (which I havnt read) - but I see that 3 weeks ago, the management change was announced, which the creation of the Melbourne Arts Precinct Co (missed that) and … Continue reading Fed Square – new management →

Repost this day 2019: The back of the old #HoytsMidCity cinema centre is more chunky-#brutalist than the front. And surprisingly intact, even the rich red #pebblemix finish. Built 1970 as a speculative venture with two screens, a squishy arcade and parking, by the entrepreneurial architect Gordon Banfield who had also developed the Total Carpark, so … Continue reading Pink Brutalism →

30 June 2021 Right there on #ToorakRoad, there’s Langi Flats, a bit of Chicago 1900s #PrairieSchool, as interpreted by #WalterBurleyGriffin and #MarionMahonyGriffin in 1925-6. It was a rebuild of a 1915 house in front, and new build behind- that bit has plainer walls but more exciting geometric patterned gates and panels below the windows. The … Continue reading Langi Flats, Toorak →

29 June 2021 - repost this day 4 years ago, where now there’s a work site and big hole : South African Soldiers Memorial (ie #BoerWar), #DomaineInterchange, 1924, #IrwinandStevenson. Thought id document the things that are about to be dismantled or in the case of the trees chopped down to allow excavation for the Domain … Continue reading Boer War Memorial and Anzac Station →

Repost this day 2018: 🙀 #ClarenceHouse, 1898, of which most was left intact, BUT, thanks to a 2006 #VCAT decision ‘#onbalance weighing up #developmentrights and #heritagelisting’ they thought this was a good compromise. dammit. Through the 80s and 90s it had been a nightclub known as #TheMansion and surprisingly it’s got a Wikipedia entry outlining … Continue reading The Mansion, once →