Original post 23 March 2019 (changed since then !): A rather nice Edwardian warehouse on #LonsdaleStreet built in c1904 for Sniders & Abraham Tobacco to go with their warehouses in the lane behind. Just saw scaffolding, don’t know what for, no planning applications, fortunately it got #heritagelisted last year, so presumably nothing drastic. It’s called … Continue reading Snidest & Abraham, Edwardian Tobacco, facaded.
Caulfield Town Hall, started, stopped, finished off differently
29 March 2019 Caulfield Town Hall is an amalgam of an 1884 design by Sydney Smith, built but not rendered and without the tower, then a partial first floor was added in 1890. It was finally finished off in 1931 with more first floor, rendering, and the portico and the hall itself added, all in … Continue reading Caulfield Town Hall, started, stopped, finished off differently
Aurora Melbourne topped out at 90 floors….
The randomly #supertall 90 storey #AuroraMelbourne by @elenberg_fraser has pretty much #toppedout - also almost looks like the rendering from the State Library forecourt if you fiddle with it a lot. And looming up from upper Swanston street too. Hadn’t realised #AuroraMelbourne is actually on the #SwanstonStreetAxis looking south; and it’s as tall as it’s … Continue reading Aurora Melbourne topped out at 90 floors….
Grand designs on a tight site
Not a case of pointless #facadism as I first thought, the white part was built from recycled bricks as a non-literal memory of what was there before. This house featured on #GrandDesignsAustralia in 2013, but I only saw it a few months ago and then realised I was waking right past every other day ! … Continue reading Grand designs on a tight site
Edwardian verticality in Albert Park.
26 July 2022: The wonderfully eccentric Machin & Shepherd, #EstateAgents, built c1902 (here till the 80s!). Fantastic #Edwardian #Queenanne #3D design over extremely narrow proportions, obviously designed to be as tall as possible to stand out. Big chunky projections, topped with a with a kind of #occulus, an arch over a gap with the steep … Continue reading Edwardian verticality in Albert Park.
Art Deco Commonwealth Bank no 2 of maybe a dozen
23 March 2019 On CarlisleStreet Balaclava is one the best of those late 30s Commonwealth Banks, cos it’s on a corner, with a great circular corner tower element. It’s got one of those great wrought iron screens too, though mostly not visible, being a curved sliding gate thing by the looks. Hmmm the one in … Continue reading Art Deco Commonwealth Bank no 2 of maybe a dozen
Building over a railway line isn’t easy
So, there was a plan to build a tower right here across the #railwaylines in #ChapelStreetWindsor - but #VCAT said no in Sept 2017, citing the 12m height limit on the north side of the railway and saying it clearly didn’t fit the low scale of the heritage-listed #shoppingstrip. (The other side of the railway … Continue reading Building over a railway line isn’t easy
My 2nd godmothers house in Australian Home Beautiful, 1953.
This article in #AustralianHomeBeautiful Feb 1953 features a flat in Kew belonging to Mrs L Y Sher, and pretty sure that was my second (unofficial) #godmother Eve Sher ! - who I knew in the 70s and 80s as a short squat lovely lady who said dahlink a lot, lived in a high rise flat in Toorak … Continue reading My 2nd godmothers house in Australian Home Beautiful, 1953.
Preston Motors, a Moderne city showroom (and a bit of family history)
23 March 2019: Another bit of family history - after graduating from Commerce from #MelbourneUniversity, my mother in about 1955 instead of becoming a stock broker like she wanted got a job here at #PrestonMotors (now #PMautomotivegroup), in this great streamline Deco / #Moderne #carshowroom on the corner of Russell and #LittleCollinsStreet almost exactly when … Continue reading Preston Motors, a Moderne city showroom (and a bit of family history)
Kissing Towers, 80 Collins
If you own an #officetower with some space between it and #CollinsStreet, why not squeeze in another one ? You only have to leave a 6m gap, front and back. #80collins, pka #NauruHouse. (There weren’t any rules that anyone taking any notice of when this one got a permit in 2011, though the Collins st … Continue reading Kissing Towers, 80 Collins









