9 June 2021 The entrance portal of the #HaroldHoltPool, a bit like going into a mouth - but it was all about the movement into and through - so up the ramp, along the building, into the aliens head, out onto the upper level inside where you could see the pool below, then into the … Continue reading Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Pool →

Repost this day 2019: One of the lesser known, because it doesn’t face the street, but really one of the grandest of the many #VictorianMansion in #Melbourne; by grand I mean the most classical columns (actually I think most of these mansions are a similar size inside). It’s in #NorthRoadBrighton, its called #Kamesburgh, designed by … Continue reading Kamesburgh, Brighton, 1874 →

8 June 2021 (photos 2025) Marli Place on the #UpperEsplanade is typically #StKilda with various changes over the years. Started off as three terraces in c1854, perhaps without the verandahs. In c1862 the bay window parts were added to the end terraces, and the separate end houses with little pedimented entries were also added. Then … Continue reading Marli Place, St Kilda →

Repost this day in 2017: Pore ole #QueenVictoriaHospital; in my early days at the @nationaltrustvic we had to watch this great Edwardian hospital get demolished bit by bit, until there was only one small bit left, which then got surrounded and dominated by underwhelming stuff. It was originally the Melbourne Hospital (later Royal), began in … Continue reading Queen Victoria Hospital, what’s left of it. →

The Royal Insurance Building in Collins Street next to Temple Court opposite Market Street was built in 1938-40, in a restrained Art Deco style - but in about 1980, the stone facade was peeled off and replaced with a slick curtain wall (!). The deco building was designed by Ballantyne & Sneddon (#CedricBallantyne is best … Continue reading Reverse facadism on Collins Street →

Some #facadism from 2016, the old #HerMajestysHotel in #ToorakRoadSouthYarra. Pubs are particularly prone, being prime sites, and altered inside (but not upstairs), so only the two walls are kept, with intrusive just too big apartments popping out above - if this had been set back to the line of the top level, it would be … Continue reading Facadism in Toorak Road →

Here’s a pretty crazy one - an office tower for the corner of #LittleLonsdaleStreet and #BennettsLane, approved in 2019, is this convoluted shape so as not to overshadow the recently created green space behind the #WesleyChurch between 1 and 2pm. You’d think it wouldn’t be commercially viable, but apparently it’s ‘boutique’. There’s some rather altered … Continue reading The future of Bennett’s Lane →

Repost this day 2019: The #PresbyterianChurchSouthYarra just looks very unfinished from #PuntRoadTraffic, and it is, missing a huge spire, like so many churches, but also they stopped building 2 1/2 bays short, building 1/2 a window, very odd. Architect #LloydTayler, built 1865. That’s #BaraboolStone on the exterior, which turned out to be not very good. … Continue reading Presbyterian Church Punt Road →

This time in 2019 scored an invite to the reopening of the Capitol Theatre, the coloured prismatic extravaganza created by #WalterAndMarionGriffin in 1924, completely restored and refurbished by @rmituniversity after only being seen by students for ages and then closing completely in 2014. They installed LED lighting which can reproduce the simple original lighting effects, … Continue reading Capitol Theatre restored →

The fabulous #ESandABank, 1959, designed by their in-house architect #StuartMcIntosh, on #GlenferrieRoadMalvern, was (partly) restored early last year. The fins, which had been blue forever and surprisingly made of plywood, have been rebuilt and repainted the original white and ‘mint green’ on the underside, to go with the pink glass. The floating white cube is … Continue reading ES&A Modern in Malvern →