Repost this day 2019: Looks so delicious in the afternoon sun - not only has Fareham and #Figsby in #RobeStreetStKilda got beautiful New Orleans style #castiron, it’s in lovely (and correct) chocolate brown and dull green, complementing the brickwork. Built 1867 and probably designed by the owner/builder William Allen, a very early example of #polychromebrick, … Continue reading Figsby & Fareham, Robe Street, St Kilda →

10 May 2025 This great shot by #MarkStrizic has been used to illustrate stories about #WhelanTheWrecker, but without saying what building it was - then I noticed the little shell under the window and yes it was Shell Corner, on the corner of Bourke & William Streets. Ha! (Update : @historyvictoria has some fine colour … Continue reading Shell Corner →

Another partial victory, repost this day 2019: All that’s left of #BurtonsLivery (1868, top floor 1887) is the facade, and 2m of side wall. Annoys me that by keeping and exposing the bit of side wall there’s a ‘three dimensional appearance’ which meets the letter of the anti-facadism clause but not the spirit. Nice there’s … Continue reading Facadism, and an unintentional pair of towers, and a new laneway →

6 May 2021 This is what the GPO looked like for it’s first 20 years - for ages I had assumed they just stopped without the top floor and with a stumpy tower - but actually it was meant to be like that, almost. It was #CrouchAndWilson that won an 1858 competition (2nd image), and … Continue reading GPO Melbourne, not finished – twice ! →

Repost from this day in 2017: The the 60 storey purple goodness of the #EQtower in #ABeckettStreet, another #ElenbergFraser. Don't mind this one, it's even got quite substantial setbacks and a proper podium - just not really a fan of fatter bases, or those balconies formed by just leaving out a pane of glass, but … Continue reading EQ, A’Beckett Street →

4 September 2023: The #ArtDeco #rocket of the 1935 #O'DonnellFountain, in the O'Donnell Gardens, both named after Edward O'Donnell, a St Kilda resident and grocer from the 1850s, then councillor from 1888 for forty-four years, and six times Mayor. He died in 1933, and enough people liked him enough to raise the £750 to build … Continue reading O’Donnell Fountain, 1935 →

If this 1935 house in Brighton had survived a bit longer than c1988, it would have been put on #VictorianHeritageRegister as one of the most important examples of Bauhaus Modernism applied to a house in Victoria. Designed by #GeoffreyMewton, when in partnership with #RoyGrounds, it was one of three winners of the ‘drawings or photographs’ … Continue reading Stooke House, Brighton, 1935, dem c1988 →

Posted 13 March 2021 Today is the 150th anniversary of #TheAlfredHospital welcoming its first patient ! It was designed by Charles Webb (who later did the Windsor) in a kind of Flemish mode, with plenty of #polychromebrickwork, a relatively early example. His plan included multiple separate ward blocks, on the ‘nightingale’ principle of fresh air … Continue reading Alfred Hospital →

4 May 2018: Some more #LostMelbourne, but partially rescued too - these #atlantes once held up the 1880 #colonialbank #doorway, now an entry to the 1972 #Melbourneuniversity #undergroundcarpark. The #ColonialBankofAustralasia head office was one of the grand 19thC City banks, built 1880, cnr of Elizabeth Street and #littlecollinsstreet, oddly not amongst the grand banks of … Continue reading Lost, but not completely →

Repost this day in 2019: More #SolSapir in fact some of his first, the Twin Towers, on the #UpperEsplanade, built in 1969, and there’s a photo from when they’re being finished ! Not my favourite #apartmenttowers at all, rather clunky chunky, not a lot of fun details, not a lot of view out, nice arches … Continue reading Sol Sapir, again ! →