11 January 2020: I often walk past this on the way to the tram, a very inventive example of the #polychromebrick ‘#lombardicRomanesque’ applied to a typical house form; designed by #PercyOakden (while he was part of #OakdenAddisonAndKemp) who was a bit more #avantguarde than most, taking up the #Ruskinian approach of #structuralpolychromy with interest created … Continue reading Structural Polychromy in St Kilda. →

Not enough poles they said! Take this then. (this one led to some heated discussion on my post, I wasn't expecting that!)

#BurnleyHorticulturalCollege, in beautiful grounds in Burnley, #Richmond, established in 1865, has a great centrepiece building by #PercyEverett, Chief Architect of the #PublicWorksDepartment, built in 1947. His post war work was pretty much the same as his pre war work, in his trademark Modern/ #Moderne, but a bit squarer and and simplified than before, eg all … Continue reading Burnley College, 1947, another Percy Everett. →

It was a surprise coming to see this, didn’t know it loomed quite so much ! The building is now on its fourth life; built as the #WertheimPiano factory in 1909, designed by #NahumBarnet, it then became the Heinz canned soup factory in the 30s with little change, then in 1956 Melb’s first commercial #TVstation … Continue reading Channel 9 is now flats – Industrial conversion in Richmond →

Curious workshop thing built into the slope next to the #FootscrayArtsCentre, once Henderson’s Piggery; apparently been here since the 30s, while Griffiths & Baird were toolmakers, here in the 1950s. Thanks to #melbournecircle blog for the info.

There’s a whole section of the middle of #StKildaRoad that’s just ...empty - due to the woks for the #MelbourneMetroTunnel at #DomainInterchange.

O dear this #smokehaze is scary ! Didn’t realise it was this bad. Only other time I remember this happening was Ash Wednesday in 1983, and that was just one day or horrifying #bushfires, which burnt 3/4 mill hectares, destroying 100s of houses, including my family holiday house at Fairhaven; it took a good 10 … Continue reading Smoke Haze, 3 January 2019. →

The new Cato Square in #Prahran - I think it suffers from the #publicplaza design problem of trying to cater for too much stuff, ending up reliant on programmed events, a bit like FedSq - also from the odd decision to make the whole thing semi-enclosed, with three raised sides, and a cafe (not yet … Continue reading What should a new civic plaza be like ? →

The amphitheater like design of #CatoSquare means the sides are raised and does feel like it’s turned it’s back on the surrounding streets, an odd decision, the #IzettStreet side is a black wall, the #sprinklervalves had to go somewhere, but ??? On the other side the walls are glass lighting up the carpark, but that’s … Continue reading Blank walls at Cato Square →