6 July 2025 Would you believe Hoddle Street and Punt Road weren’t connected by road until 1938? It must have been so quiet up on the hill. Punt Road got its name from a punt established in 1842, which was joined (or replaced) by a footbridge in 1895. The first photo is 1922, which clearly … Continue reading No punt road bridge →

3 July 2025 There are countless numbers of these smallish contemporary apartment things on the main roads, some of them don’t try, some try too hard - like this one in Malvern Road Malvern. Big blocky angular horizontals, the corner ones picked out in an orangy brown, maybe supposed to be gold ? I guess … Continue reading Trying too hard →

1 July 2025 I’ve always thought the Richmond Town Hall was a rather clunky design, blocky volumes and with great huge legs on the street. It must have been a case of wanting the opposite of what you had, because it’s actually a do-over of the original 1870 town hall, a design by Charles Vickers … Continue reading Richmond Town Hall →

30 June 2025 This grand Gothic pile on Malvern Road South Yarra was built as the Prahran State School in 1874. It’s rather more dour than many of the other similar schools, with a bit less of a picturesque arrangement and less decoration, though maybe a clean would help. It was one of the first … Continue reading Prahran State School →

26 June 2025 The Buckley Street underpass in Essendon in July 2019, about 10 months after it was finished - it’s a bit garish ! Even a bit unreal. But a neat solution for removing the level crossing. There’s some extra planting where the road used to be, and the station, built in 1909 and … Continue reading Road under rail →

27 June 2025 One of the rare houses scattered around Melbourne by Walter Burley Griffin or his associates, this house on Balaclava Road East St Kilda was designed by EF Billson, who was Griffins first employee in 1916 (when he was still doing the architecture course at Melbourne University). It dates from 1925 (or 1919 … Continue reading Burley Griffin style →

20 June 2025 I’d only ever glimpsed this one from a distance in passing - it’s 3 Bowen Crescent, off St Kilda Road, a bit more revealed recently by demo next door. Kind of wild, almost eye-straining use of stacked low arches done as a screen wall, a cheery op-art idea by Lumsden Ashton & … Continue reading Mousehouse →

17 June 2025 The vey fine State Government Offices behind the Treasury Building are the result of a competition held in 1962, and here are many of the losers ! Never seen them before, published in Cross Section magazine in March and April 1963. The oft-told story is that Yuncken Freeman won despite not conforming … Continue reading State Offices competition →

14 June 2014 : This is my local #coles #supermaket. Housed behind the retained facade of a #cabletram #enginehouse - which once housed giant #steamengine that ran the cables underground that pulled the trams along. It was designed by the tramways architect Alexander Davidson, in an elaborate polychrome Gothic, and built in 1887; it served … Continue reading Cable tram engine house →

13 June 2025 I photographed this place, next to the brothel next to the Clifton Hill McDonalds, in 2013, then during demo, then the empty site in 2014. The site still seems to be empty. Update : Warren Kirk from Insta sent me his great pics from the 90s; Tru-mould also occupied the great Deco … Continue reading Tru-Mould →