😮 I knew this was happening but still…this is the 1970 offices of #YunckenFreeman on King Street in West Melbourne, and it’s being facaded for a hotel development (which is better than it was going to be). The first example of modernist #facadism, and prob not the last, though new @cityofmelbourne guidelines very much say … Continue reading Modernist facadism on King Street. →

From 2014: on the Haymarket roundabout, the #CommercialBankOfAustralia 1885 by #PeterMathews - who ive never heard of but did quite a few banks - this one possibly his best.About to be dominated by a large #ellenbergfraser. 2021: What was built weirdly wraps around the bank because originally the two site owners were going to develop … Continue reading Commercial Bank, Haymarket, 1885 →

Improbable but real - this was the #ticketbooth of the #WindsorTheatre, opened in 1938, opposite Windsor Station. One of a series of great cinemas designed by #TaylorAndSoilleux, of which only the Rivoli remains. The ticket box disappeared don’t know when, but the building survived into the 90s with the ceiling intact above a blockbuster video. … Continue reading Windsor Theatre, 1938 →

This is one I was hoping that Corona might have cancelled, but no, it’s for sale ‘with permit’ for a crazy tower perched on legs over preserved facades, a design given the tick by VCAT, despite a previous version being knocked back…and now the design has changed too, not the @armarchitecture mesh sock, plainer, possibly … Continue reading Unbelievable really. Facadism plus way too close…. →

Sad to hear today that local residents have been informed that the demolition of the 1954 #APMboilerHouse in Alphington is about to commence. Designed by #MussenMackayAndPotter, it is significant as the first all-glass curtain wall in Victoria, and an example of an architects vision applied to an industrial building - which led to it being … Continue reading APM Boiler House to be demolished soon →

19 March 2021: Very impressive flats in my street, and equally impressive #gumtrees, a great combo. This is one of the many #StKildaFlats made out of older buildings. This started out as a pair of very spacious 12 room three storey #terracehouses, possibly built as early as 1863, known as "Lansdown Place (1 and 2). … Continue reading Grandeur in Dalgety Street, St Kilda →

19 March 2021: The wonderfully named Valma, a tiny block of 3 flats, making such a bold statement with very fat curved #balcony fronts, deepset windows behind, reminding me of #tropicalArtDeco tropical, keeping the sun well off (but the top one has air con anyway). #WHMerritt, 1936. Seems when it was done up the stair … Continue reading Valma, St Kilda, 1936 →

Great old #paintedsign in an ex-shop on #CanterburyRoadMiddlePark; there are two intact shop windows, one small one large, and they’re in a small weatherboard structure that was added in 1892 taking up most of the front garden of a weatherboard house of 1887 - which was probably done to raise some urgent $ given the … Continue reading Shop sign, on an odd shop in Middle Park →

First posted this in 2014 (!), hasn’t changed a bit ! Here’s what I said in 2018 : #LittleCollinStreet, just off Elizabeth St, I think the only building in the #melbcbd that's still #abandoned above the ground floor (in the last 15 years all the others have become flats). Built as the #colonialbankhotel in 1892, … Continue reading Abandoned ! Colonial Bank Hotel, Little Collins Street →

Original post 17 August 2020 I’m not a huge fan of the #SouthgateCentre, built in 1992, though I can see that it has historic interest as the first element of the complete transformation of the south bank area from industrial to hyper commercialism, and its #Postmodern, but not terribly exciting pomo; designed but very commercial … Continue reading Southgate Centre to be demolished →