11 August 2025 Airlie, another one of the dozen or so mansions left in St Kilda Road/Queens Road, now of course dominated by glassy blocks behind and next to - and in fact the curvy one (called Opera) seems to point down towards it. The house was built in 1891 for solicitor Frederick J Neave, … Continue reading Airlie, St Kilda Road →

11 August 2025 Some flats on High Street Armadale that stood out in the winter sun - Koonoona, cnr Hampden Road, was built in 1933, and architect M Sherlock was quite eclectic. There’s a more or less Art Deco arch, Georgian wrought iron, a classical portico, some Spanish barleycorn columns, and loads of textured clinker … Continue reading Eclectic interwar →

7 August 2025 I always thought the Brunswick Town Hall was a 19th one like all the others, but a little less detail - but turns out it’s mostly 1927! And a complicated story that I couldn’t find written out anywhere. So, it started as just the central section in 1877 in Renaissance Revival style. … Continue reading Brunswick Town Hall →

8 August 2025 Hadn’t really noticed this one before, but there it is, sticking up above the now very expensive Victorian cottages off Victoria Avenue, Albert Park. Like all the other Housing Commission towers, it would have been built in the 60s (update it was 1966), using the same pebble-dash precast panels from their factory … Continue reading Little Housing Commission tower →

7 August 2025 A bit of brassy bling on Collins Street - Cartier has been in 90 Collins Street since 2017, then spent much of last year renovating inside and giving the facade a make-over, by French architects Bidard & Raisisui - it’s nice, elegant even, lots of fluting. But really compared to the elaborate … Continue reading Cartier and Capers on Collins →

3 August 2025 This house still stands at 25 Queens Road, one of the dozen or so mansions left there or on St Kilda Road - it’s great, but the main front is obscured by planting. It’s a very vigorous example of Gothic style, with multiple bays and many gables, each with their carved barge … Continue reading Bendigonia, Queens Road →

2 August 2025 A house in Dandenong Road East St Kilda that’s seen better days - and pretty notable too. It’s called Broxted, and was built in 1918 by Howard Lawson as his own home. He was a pretty prolific architect /developer, starting out about 1912, best known for the 1930s Beverly Hills flats in … Continue reading Early Howard Lawson →

31 July 2025 Slightly spooky old house in Creswick Street Hawthorn - I knew it was old, didn’t realise how old ! Might be 1845 when JD Pinnock bought this whole chunk of Hawthorn. Or might be a bit later. Designed by John Gill, an early colonial architect, in a simple picturesque Gothic style, with … Continue reading Gothic in Hawthorn →

30 July No words. I mean, I could say a lot, but basically it’s just baffling. Spring Road, Malvern.

30 July 2025 The fountain in the Malvern Public Garden looked fabulous in the winter sun yesterday. It’s also known as the Spring Road Gardens, and the fountain is a memory of the spring that once sprang here. The gardens were opened in 1890, and the lake and fountain were built by Charles Robintte, a … Continue reading Spring Road Gardens →