The truly amazing crystalline ceiling of the #CapitolTheatreMelbourne, #WalterBurleyGriffin and wife #MarionMahoneyGriffin going for it with a plaster extravaganza of indirect light effects. Cinemas in the 1920s were all about #spectacle, as much a part of the experience as the silent movies and the orchestra and often an organ too (the Capitols is at the … Continue reading The Capitol Theatre is amazing
Got a tour of the #CapitolTheatre last week, and this was a highlight ! Seeing behind the fabbo plaster ‘prisms’ to see the one bit of original lighting kept in place, complete with plaque so that no one removes at some point in the future ! Just imagine crawling through the whole thing replacing these … Continue reading Capitol Theatre – behind the scenes
16 December 2019 #ChristchurchStKilda, pass it often, today the sun just right, making the Sorrento sandstone (almost) glow. Designed by #PurchasAndSwire in 1854 (#AlbertPurchas wasn’t quite 30 years old), this front and the nave built by 1857. It’s a bit severe I think, though that’s not a bad thing, #EarlyEnglish style was rough with small … Continue reading Christ Church St Kilda
#BirdsonaWire - some #RainbowLorikeets in Victoria Street #StKilda, boy are they noisy ! But delightful. Don’t know if St Kilda has more ? Didn’t see them this much in Fitzroy. Or maybe it’s #climatechange, I don’t remember them being here in the early 90s. Hmmm
December 2019 #BoerWar Memorial, #AlfredSquare, #StKilda, 1905; designed by #ArthurPeck, though its assumed that it’s probably also/mostly #RobertHaddon, who consulted a lot. He was almost the only architect in Victoria to fully embrace #ArtNouveau, and this has all the sinuous lines and vegetal motifs of that style. Also, it’s green, so green. No idea if … Continue reading St Kilda Boer War Memorial – Art Nouveau by the beach.
#FootscrayTownHall, #JosephPlottel, 1936. A delightful essay in a very American mode, a combo of Bryzantine and Florentine, it’s more about effect than an accurate style, with lovely variegated brickwork and very crisp detailing in buff-coloured #faience, which goes a bit Celtic. Plottel had done the St Kilda Synagogue in the 20s in a more clearly … Continue reading Footscray Town Hall, exotic styling from 1936
Footscray Junior Technical School, 1941, #PercyEverett at his finest, a grand entry set on and inside corner, with curves and counter-curves, a circular vestibule, some great brickwork, topped by a pair of flagposts - the only thing is there’s trees in front, and a big newer block, and a slight slope down, meaning it doesn’t … Continue reading Footscray Junior Technical College, 1941.
I think I’m right to be jealous of the @cityofsydney’s mandatory design competition process for large projects (policy here) - look at all these lovely projects, all that brick and timber, and nicely scaled public space - ok they need the spaces more than we go what with the narrow streets in the CBD, but … Continue reading Something Sydney can teach us – Design Competitions as part of the planning permit !
December 2019 There's this excellent Milky Way Cafe photo in the State Library Collection - but what ? where ? Well it was designed by Mewton & Grounds, and this is from the Wikipedia entry for Geoffrey Mewton (which I just wrote): “This was followed in 1934 by the Milky Way at 300 #LittleCollinsStreet, a … Continue reading Thoroughly Modern Milk Bar
Not my photo but I couldn’t wait - just discovered that #MewtonAndGrounds did a ‘Scout Settlement’ project in #NottStreet, #PortMelbourne in late 1936, and it’s still there ! The Scout Settlement wasn’t the Scouts, but similar, providing recreation rooms for boys ‘from the more congested suburbs’ in this case the very working class Port Melb. … Continue reading Geoffrey Mewton discovery !
If the Nazi's never took power, would Berlin have Europe's tallest skyscraper and East Prussia be a honeymoon destination ?
Storey of Melbourne 