15 April 2021 Coles Book Arcade in Bourke Street must have been a magical place - and impressive ! EW Cole opened this emporium of books in 1883, with new publications on the ground floor, second hand on the first floor (and soon added ornaments on the top floor!). He provided chairs for people to … Continue reading Coles Book Arcade, 1883-1928 →

Repost April 14, 2019: The sunken offices at the back of the #ParliamentOfVictoria by @peterelliott.architects are very nice and a good solution to the space issue and you can hardly see it from the street anyway but of course I think my plan would have been better, if a little more expensive. Finish the side … Continue reading Parliament House, unfinished →

October 2025 The amazing Roy Grounds house, Hill Street, Toorak, 1953, is up for sale, maybe $2.5 mill for a piece of modernist history. I took pic 1 in 2018, didn’t realise it was so unassuming. Bold plan, with a fun use of geometry - a square with all rooms looking into a central circular … Continue reading Roy Grounds House and flats, Toorak, 1953 →

Interesting project I came across in #Elwood a couple of weeks ago (on a rare trip out) - ‘Ensemble’ by @kavellarisurbandesign; apartments starting at $1.5mill. Made me think about neighbourhood character, and how there’s never any requirement to meet it, though Elwood is very mixed, Edwardian houses and postwar flats, but no big bold massive … Continue reading Contemporary development in Elwood →

11 April 2021 The old #RussellTeaRoom on King Street is up for sale; #LolaRussell and her husband George had to move out aged 95 because the side wall has become unstable and they couldn’t afford the repairs. George died soon after, and Lola is now 99 and in a nursing home, so the family now … Continue reading Old Russell Tea Rooms, King Street. →

In the early days of cinema, some venues were open air summer affairs, and there were a number in St Kilda. The #ParadisePictures were created in the (large) front garden of a mansion on the southeast corner of Alfred Square (where the St Moritz was later built) in 1906, and lasted to WW1 (didn’t help … Continue reading Open Air Cinema in Edwardian St Kilda →

So for ages this was #kozminskis; they left in 2017, and now it’s going to be the #HopetounTeaRooms (someone bought the name), a rival to the original, to be renamed #thetearoom1892, which is already operating. This photo from April 2018, here’s what I said then : Beaut highly articulated facade, might even say #arcuated and … Continue reading Was Kozminsky’s now Hopetoun Tea Rooms, 1859 + 1869 + 1919. →

I havnt been back yet to see what it’s like now, but here’s some shots I took in April 2017: A bunch of #bluestone #archways and #entrances at #PentridgePrison. 1 into former hospital, 2,3 the main drive up and down, 4,5 the 'industrial' buildings, since the inmates were usually put to work making mats, number … Continue reading Pentridge bluestone arches, 2017 →

April 2021 Makinganentrance. Not a fan of the scattered 8-12 storey #brownbrick blocks along the middle park/ #stkilda #beachfront, but this one does have a smashing entrance ! (and crisp details, scroll to see whole thing). Possibly by #SolSapir, who did the similar ones at Alfred Sq (which means he did four of these and … Continue reading Another Sol Sapir on Beaconsfield Parade. →

Went wandering around #MelbourneUniversity looking for old studio-type buildings, so checked out #OldEngineering, which turns out to be a #PublicWorks front added in 1914 (with an extra postwar floor, 1940s?) joining up a 1906 building and the original 1899 building to the south by #ReedTappinAndSmart to the south which has its own #watertower ! All … Continue reading Old Engineering, Melbourne University, 1899, 1906, 1914, 1938 →