8 May 2018, updated : Well preserved ghost signs on the cnr of Bank and Cecil Streets, South Melbourne. I didn’t have much to say back then, but @melbourne_ghostsigns has since done great research, so now I know that : The building is 1882, mostly a real estate office until becoming the Baker family grocer … Continue reading Ghost signs, South Melbourne →

3 May 2025 A late post for World Art Deco Day (April 25th) - this was Normans Corner Store, cnr of Bourke and Russell Streets, one of the many smaller ‘department stores’ in the CBD. Norman’s opened here in 1932 in an Edwardian 3 storey thing, survived the depression, then in 1935 added 4 more … Continue reading Tall corner store →

2 May 2025 One of the dozens of #LostMelbourne mansions - Bracknell in Toorak was on a large lot between Lansell Road and Orrong. It was designed by WH Ellerker for politician and land boomer Matthew Davies in 1882; it had a tower and lots of balconies as shown in the sketch (pic3). In 1887 … Continue reading Bracknell / The Towers, Toorak →

30 April 2025 This was always a landmark for me coming into town from Camberwell as a kid - a very grand church on the corner of Power Street and Wallen Road Hawthorn. It’s actually not a church, but a Shrine, dedicated to St Anthony of Padua, patron saint of the lost. It’s one of … Continue reading St Anthony’s, Hawthorn →

29 April 2025 Nomads, Carlisle Street, St Kilda, 2004. Even though this is so brightly coloured and blocky I kind of like it. I guess it helps a lot that the street is mixed and especially that there’s two palm trees in front. Also, it’s kind of just like a sculpture, with that almost blank … Continue reading Red box backpackers →

27 April 2025 This very unusual place once stood in Albert Street East Melbourne, a very elaborate and rare example of the Moorish or Mogul style, a bit Alhambra, a bit Taj Mahal, a lot Victorian invention. It was overlaid as a verandah on an earlier house in about 1877, and might have been designed … Continue reading Moorish style in East Melbourne →

26 April 2025 The Labassa Conservatory features a cast iron structure and roof detailing, with other bits in pressed metal, and a tiled floor, by far the most elaborate late 19thC private freestanding conservatories to survive (there are quite a few attached ones left). It probably dates from c1890 when the gardens were greatly expanded … Continue reading Labassa Conservatory →

20 April 2025 The fabulous Rivoli Theatre at Camberwell Junction, opened in 1940, has the most interesting Art Deco cinema interior left in Victoria. It was designed by cinema specialists Taylor & Soilleux (this is the only one of theirs left), who often did something more than the usual zigzags or waterfall curves - and … Continue reading Rivoli Theatre →

20 April 2025 Some long gone Collins Street elegance next door to the Melbourne Club. This building went through many changes: the first pic is 1950s, showing it as Pasteur House, a 1927 refurb of a row of terraces, turning it into a medical chambers with a central entrance. Designed by Neville Hollinshed (who later … Continue reading Paris End lost →

28 November 2025 Had a look at the reopened Campbell Arcade / Degraves Street underpass, opened to great fanfare in 1955. Pleased to say it looks pretty much exactly the same, but somehow a bit brighter compared to pic 2 before…ah I see there’s down lights in front of the shops now. So the pink … Continue reading Degraves underpass / Campbell Arcade →