16 May 2021 Maybe it’s a long bow, but I think this image from #RobinBoyd’s #AustralianUgliness might be inspired by the two modernist office blocks that once stood right across Princes Bridge, facing the Snowden Gardens (site of the Concert Hall). One was finished 1959, the other in 1960, the year the book came out … Continue reading Featurism on Southbank →

Repost this day 2019: I never shopped at Georges, I mean I was into opp shops in the 80s, but I did make a special effort to go to the Regency Room a couple of times, when I was practically the only male there. I remember that great sunburst mirror, and that you had to … Continue reading George’s Regency Room →

Original post 14 May 2017: #FrankTateBuilding, #MelbourneUniversity, #PercyEverett, 1940. Part submerged beneath later plaza, but still impressive as finely balanced between #ArtDeco and #CollegiateGothic, those piers almost like #buttresses, north end almost an #apse. Side windows also quite vertical/ gothic, not corners all curved and glass block #moderne. It was built as part of the … Continue reading Frank Tate Building, Melbourne University →

Original post 15 May 2019: Eulinya, in #IrvingRoad, #Toorak, was built for fabric importer and #statesavingsbankofvictoria chairman Sir William McBeath in 1926 (later home to GJ Coles, and now Lindsay Fox). It was designed by #WalterButler, who did quite a few big houses for the elite. There’s not many Victorian mansions left in Toorak, but … Continue reading Eulinya, Toorak, a bit Tudor, and a bit Arts & Crafts →

Repost this day in 2018: Two then newish Docklands towers, the angly one by @dko_architecture, the other by @mirvacdesign. Nice enough, but still perhaps an odd place to live. I guess I like older buildings more !

30 October 2024 Finally got see it for myself and yep it’s terrible. This is the manse, built in 1859 for the adjacent Wesley Church, completed in 1858, both designed by the great Joseph Reed in rugged bluestone Gothic. The tower proposed in 2015 basically maximises floor space by curving in around it, then curving … Continue reading Wesley Church Manse, yuk →

Repost from this day 2019: #HartpuryCourt, in Milton St #Elwood, #ArthurPlaisted, 1923 - a very nice and relatively early example of the interwar #OldEnglish style, otherwise known as #TudorRevival. #HalfTimbering infilled with brick, steep roofs in flat tiles, tall chimneys, window bays in #leadlight, delightful. Also, why don’t they build flats with generous shared gardens … Continue reading Hartpury Court cuteness, Elwood →

Repost this day last year, during first lockdown, Flinders Street was (just) within my 5ks - so much has happened/still happening !

22 September 2017: This #massiveedifice of stonework was built on the corner of Collins & Queen Streets for National Mutual in 1891-3. Originally it stood alone and very vertical, since the queen street side was only 3 bays - it was more than doubled in matching style in 1911-13, designed by Gibbs & Finlay. At … Continue reading Gothic ‘skyscraper’, Collins Street →

11 May 2021 De Mont Rose, 1 Broadway, Elwood, 1934, an early project by #EsmondDorney, who would go on to do many like this, and many uniquely styled Art Deco blocks, in Elwood and adjacent burbs, and then totally unique houses in post WW2 Hobart. This one is 1920s eclectic, a bit Tudor, a bit … Continue reading Eclectic fun in Elwood →