3 June 2018: I think of #StVincentPlace #SouthMelbourne as full of grand terraces, but there’s actually a lot of free-standing #villas and single storey ones too. It’s now extremely expensive real estate, so they’re all totally renovated, paint taken off bricks, mostly heritage colours, but the paint-everything-shades-of-grey disease also to be seen. They’ve all got … Continue reading St Vincent Place houses →

June 2018: #EsplanadeHotelStKilda, built 1878, designed by #SmithAndJohnson, as four grand terraces, which instead became a hotel, extended 1920s by #GibbsAndFinlay, when it was known as Carlyons, they had jazz out the back, 50 years later it was punk and alt live music powerhouse 80s - 90s, sold, a 35 storey tower proposed behind it … Continue reading Esplanade Hotel, aka ‘The Espy’ →

November 2025 😮 I like a bit of Brutalist Revival but I’m afraid this one in Hopetoun Road is a bit top heavy. With the timber walls a similar colour to tan bricks, it ends up looking rather like a 1970s TAFE building. And not sure but the off-form concrete seems to be in precast … Continue reading Hopetoun Road, Toorak →

In 2019 the 1890 mansion #Bundalohn, by #HyndmanAndBates, in Tennyson Street St Kilda was revealed from behind an ugly 60s motel thing - but it’s just been covered up again ! It had been crisis accomodation, and that’s what the new thing is- I suppose because it’s impossible to get permits to build a use … Continue reading Hidden Mansion hidden again →

Repost this day 2019, when it was for sale - presumably someone enjoying it right now ! Some early #Brutalism - the #McNichollHouse, #SouthYarra, 1959-63, by Grounds & Boyd. Theres the Caroline Street side you mostly see in photos, I’ve always thought it looked like a block of flats, turns out to be the back, … Continue reading Roy Grounds Brutalist in South Yarra →

So with #PatriciaPiccinini’s show coming up in the #FlindersStreetBallroom, finally the public will be able to see it - and that it’s actually in a terrible state, with no plaster ! And no funds to repair it. In 2017-18, the plaster walls and pressed metal ceilings were all taken off because a. they were heavily … Continue reading Flinders Street Ballroom, broken →

Repost this day 2019: Corner of Swanston & LaTrobe- I do worry on behalf of anyone who bought an apartment in the lower 10 or 20 floors of one the towers built first, only to see all the others emerge around them, sometimes less than 10m away, especially on dull days like much of this … Continue reading Crowded towers →

30 May 2019 (and Harry Potter is still going in 2021): So much #gilding - the refreshed #PrincessTheatre looks marvellous. Just realised that the great little copper #dragon light fittings on the canopy arnt some restored detail, but added as a hint to the #HarryPotter stuff going on inside - doh ! Built 1886, #WilliamPittArchitect, … Continue reading Princess Theatre →

This strip of mostly low scale heritage places on the west side of Elizabeth Street was added to the 40m (10 storey) central retail #heightlimit district in 2017. Then in 2019, the buildings were doubly protected by becoming a #heritageprecinct as part of the hardware lane review. Just in time too, with a proposal last … Continue reading Heritage and a height limit ! →