December 2019 A Melbourne#castiron #pissoir, one of 8 left, this one outside the Royal Artillery Hotel #SouthCarlton (now the #LastJar) and quite unchanged, still with the entries facing the gutter, and the cresting intact. I think the white porcelain is original too. It was quite smelly inside ! They all date from 1903-18. The idea … Continue reading Taking the Pissoir.
November 2019, updated 2025 The fantastic long demolished Fish Markets once at the far end of Flinders Street; one of the great loses, but then in the 1950s there was no such thing as heritage listing, and Victoriana was actively disliked. Ive collected a whole bunch of images, mainly via Facebook, mainly originally the State … Continue reading Fish Market, Flinders Street
#KurrajongHouse in #CollinsStreet near the Regent is fine to look at but curiously without a clear style; it’s sort of squared off abstracted classical but really quite plain except that it’s all windows, mostly in the protruding central bay. Built 1936-27, it was designed by #RMandMHKing, a father and son team, better known for houses, … Continue reading Kurrajong is a tree not a bird 😁
First posted Instagram 3 December 2019. It’s a C- from me; #SwanstonCentral, @elenberg_fraser, the colours barely register, neither does the slight curve, and it just stops in the sky. And looks very dull indeed if the sun isn’t shining. Really we should have something much better for this prime spot, outside the #HoddleGrid. (Update : … Continue reading Swanston Central tower – fail !
Bellaire, in #CowderoyStreet, #WestStKilda, a place I’d seen photos of but not clapped my own eyes on it. A bit severe ! Designed by #GeoffreyMewton of #MewtonAndGrounds, 1936, lauded as one of those places showing the influence of Modernism when all around was Art Deco or Tudor, its almost Bauhaus in its severity, softened - … Continue reading Bricky severe Modernism in St Kilda West.
Looks like maybe a #Bauhaus design ? Actually it was built in Toorak in 1936. Came across this photo while updating the Wikipedia entry for #GeoffreyMewton, so now I know that in the 1930s he did some of the most Modernist houses In Melbourne! But mostly demolished. All white or brick rectangular volumes, with flat … Continue reading Mewton Modernism
A photo from c1960 of the #castironlace #verandah being removed from Hillside, a grand #melbourneterrace thousands pass every day on #HoddleStreetRichmond, when it was being converted to a ladies hostel (and it’s still operating as #HillsideCourt). Possibly the most famous place where the verandah is obviously missing. The photo is from ‘Victorian Heritage - Ornamental … Continue reading Postwar cast iron hatefulness in Richmond
Melbourne’s best gloomy mysterious entry - #AssemblyHall in #CollinsStreet, built for Victoria’s Presbyterians in 1915, next to #ScotsChurch. Designed by #HHKemp in a lively #ArtsAndCraftsStyle influenced #GothicRevival. Love the lights especially. It’s still their meeting hall and offices, but also #KayCraddock Antiquarian Booksellers.
Built for #Kodak in #CollinsStreet near Swanston in 1935, designed by #OakleyAndParkes, it was notable for using #StainlessSteel in the #spandrels - as well as the shopfront. Looks pretty accurate, except maybe the curve is bigger, and doesn’t have the vertical framing. Don’t know if @thehourglass_australia got a heritage grant, but they should have ! … Continue reading Kodak’s Art Deco shopfront reconstructed!
The #AlbertParkHotel, yet another case of #facadism, but at least you can’t tell. And it looks like there wasn’t much inside to tell of it’s history, having been altered many times, the first being a 1930s #Moderne makeover of the Victorian original. But being so picky like I am, they could have retained some of … Continue reading Albert Park Hotel – more facadism.
If the Nazi's never took power, would Berlin have Europe's tallest skyscraper and East Prussia be a honeymoon destination ?
Storey of Melbourne 