20 June 2025 I’d only ever glimpsed this one from a distance in passing - it’s 3 Bowen Crescent, off St Kilda Road, a bit more revealed recently by demo next door. Kind of wild, almost eye-straining use of stacked low arches done as a screen wall, a cheery op-art idea by Lumsden Ashton & … Continue reading Mousehouse →

17 June 2025 The vey fine State Government Offices behind the Treasury Building are the result of a competition held in 1962, and here are many of the losers ! Never seen them before, published in Cross Section magazine in March and April 1963. The oft-told story is that Yuncken Freeman won despite not conforming … Continue reading State Offices competition →

14 June 2014 : This is my local #coles #supermaket. Housed behind the retained facade of a #cabletram #enginehouse - which once housed giant #steamengine that ran the cables underground that pulled the trams along. It was designed by the tramways architect Alexander Davidson, in an elaborate polychrome Gothic, and built in 1887; it served … Continue reading Cable tram engine house →

13 June 2025 I photographed this place, next to the brothel next to the Clifton Hill McDonalds, in 2013, then during demo, then the empty site in 2014. The site still seems to be empty. Update : Warren Kirk from Insta sent me his great pics from the 90s; Tru-mould also occupied the great Deco … Continue reading Tru-Mould →

8 June 2025 Toorak House in St George’s Road, now the Swedish Church, isn’t a huge house but it’s surprisingly old, and pretty important. It was built 1850-1, that’s just before the goldrush, on a 47ha, everything between Orrong and Kooyong and Toorak Roads and the river (!). It was one of the first houses … Continue reading The original Toorak house →

8 June 2014, updated: Came across this very unusual house in Lord Street Brunswick, with a long deep classical verandah and horseshoe arches. Turns out it was built in 1912 for James Dolphin, a Jewish factory owner, so he must have wanted something with a near eastern feel. It’s also very grand, placed at top … Continue reading Brunswick Synagogue →

6 June 2025 If you’ve ever been along Riversdale Road in Hawthorn you would have noticed this, a rather grand shop/office building. The 2020 hawthorn heritage gap study says it was built c1923, of Mt Gambier limestone, now painted unfortunately, but no architect found. It’s relatively rare as a set of shops with purpose built … Continue reading Glenferrie Riversdale corner – typing and Chinese takeaway. →

5 June 2025 A finely detailed bit of #GeorgianRevival with a Mediterranean feel on Fitzroy Street St Kilda. The thin variegated #tapestrybricks give it more texture than actual Georgian, and it’s got a little balustraded balcony poking out a bit. About 1934. Port Phillip heritage planner tells me it’s by architect Marcus Barlow (who’d just … Continue reading Georgian upstairs in St Kilda →

28 May 2025 Cloyne, in Toorak Road near Kooyong Road is up for sale, and it certainly needs some work ! It’s one of the quirky 1920s houses by Harold Desbrowe Annear, moving on from his pioneering Arts & Crafts into a sort of Georgian, built for a Baillieu relative in 1926. It’s got a … Continue reading Desbrowe Annear x 4 →

21 May 2025 The rather wild Solway Building on the corner of Brunswick & Johnston Streets Fitzroy. Built 1912, it was designed by William Rain with fun wriggly parapets of different widths on both sides, and lots of red brick now painted light purple. Solway was a clothing and footwear retailer, and may have been … Continue reading Solway, Fitzroy →