Just off #ElwoodBeach I was drawn to a rather good house in slim concrete and steel with a great stone wall, and discovered Dawson Avenue is a collection of good contemporary houses, and bad and very bad 90s-2000s houses. This steer us actually in Brighton, maybe that’s a contriving factor somehow. Cheap finishes that stain … Continue reading One street in Brighton: the house, the bad, the …. →

Repost from this day in 2019: Seen in #Carlton in Feb - the fantastic #mannerist #italianate confection of #Rosaville, designed by the ever creative #NahumBarnet practically at the beginning of his career in 1883. Hope the clients were happy, it would have really stood out as a statement amongst the big but generally conservative terraces … Continue reading Some OTT Victoriana- Rosaville, Carlton, 1883 →

18 May 2019 : The #earlymodernist horizontal lines of the old #mercymaternity #hospital in #eastmelbourne by #stephensonandmeldrum 1935. The second curved bit was added 1939, the next bit in the 70s, and the curved corner entry canopies added in the 90s.I'm pleased I made the effort to get this on the #victorianheritageregister when I was … Continue reading Mercy Hospital, 1935 →

Repost this day 2019: Generally considered #IMPei’s gift to #Melbourne, the #twintowered, #citywithinacity #CollinsPlace, initial design prob c1970, ANZ tower finished 1978, the hotel tower in 1981. Seems not Pei himself though, since the #PeiCobbFreed website has a CV for #HenryCobb listing it as his, and he did the big towers it seems, but let … Continue reading Collins Place (not IM Pei) →

In #HighStreetThornbury, another one of those fine #ArtDeco #CommonwealthBank branches, symmetrical, with slightly leaning out fins, and the original terrazzo entry floor pattern. There’s another about 2 miles down the road, corner Separation Street. They usually had great grills /gates too, but long gone here. They havnt even repainted since the bank left though. Another … Continue reading Art Deco Commonwealth Bank x 2 →

1 February 2021 A lot of #ArtNouveau details under the cream paint on the 1915 #KilkennyInn, cnr Lonsdale and King, probably showing the hand of #RobertHaddon, doing work for #SydneySmithAndOgg, who did many many pubs 1900-1920s. The circular open corner is also very unusual - and about all that would be left if the current … Continue reading Not just a facade ! Kilkenny Inn, King Street. →

A lesser known and curious bit of #lostmelbourne once in Market Street, one of the ‘massive edifices’, a 19thC skyscraper that was all side really, and a rather odd front, ‘pasted on’, as an old RMIT lecturer once said. It was built for the Colonial Mutual Life Insurance Company, and completed in 1891, just as … Continue reading Lost Victorian skyscraper No 5 →

Repost this day 2018: Bit of #ArtDeco loveliness in #ABeckettStreet, the Royal Australian #ArmyMedicalCorps Training Depot, built 1938, designed by Commonwealth architect #GeorgeHallendal. Almost sold off in the 90s to become who knows what, but a deal with the state govt saved it for public purposes, becoming the beaut home of the #RoyalHistoricalSocietyOfVictoria. A bunch … Continue reading Art Deco Drill Hall →

Repost from January last year, and 2017 and 2016 : Poor ole 1925 #ElmsFamilyHotel, got #heritagelisted but not before plans were already underway to build something big on top, so it was mostly demolished - but Im pleased to see they actually kept one internal wall complete with with lovely blue #pubtiles - BUT they … Continue reading Another pub just a facade →

Repost this day 2018: #SouthMelbourneTownHall, #CharlesWebb, 1880, the model for so many #landboom town halls of the 1880s, though quite a few never got their tower/spire, a Victorian re-use of the #EnglishBaroque use of the classical orders to create a tower with the #silhouette of a gothic spire. And does anyone remember the fuss about … Continue reading South Melbourne Town Hall, 1880 →