Repost 2017: #RoyalExhibitionBuilding looking fine in the #eveningsun. When I first saw the #historicphoto with a lake I thought ‘there’s no lake there !’ but there is, though pretty sure it was overgrown until recently (?), but certainly looks smaller than in 1880. Architect #ReedandBarnes, garden #WilliamSangster.

So the @cityofmelbourne has created a Design Review Panel, who are going to provide advice on selected projects, hopefully improving them in some way - there’s 10 members and 18 experts, lots of great names, can’t fault that, but remains to be seen what kind of improvements they might actually generate - the size and … Continue reading City of Melbourne Design Review Panel →

Repost 2019: South Melbourne Woolies, opp the market - I think it’s the combo of giant bulk and cheap looking glass and detailing that makes this one so …..urgh. The ‘streetscape’ part, that is the first two levels with a variety of looks, is ok, but the rest ! Good to have a local giant … Continue reading Spotlight on South Melbourne →

Repost 2017: The #HorticulturalHall, 1873, designed by #WilliamEllerker, with a front office section added later in 1878 (also Ellerker?) faces the heavy traffic of #VictoriaStreet opposite the Carlton gardens. Back in the days before tv, every interest group had a hall, and the #RoyalHorticulturalSociety was important enough to get this prominent spot, and counted luminaries … Continue reading Horticultural Hall →

Rather unexpected to find this in a reserve in Essendon West ! (and thanks to @alisonmp for the pics). This was built as the Infant Welfare Centre in 1963 - the City of Keilor Engineer Garnet Price thought up this solution for the uneven ground, taking his cues from some of the 1950s experiments with … Continue reading Space age community centre in Essendon →

Here’s something quite spectacular, in Cotham Road, Kew, currently for sale- Ross House, originally Charleville, built 1889, for Charles Donaldson, architect H Shallers (who I’ve never heard of). I’ve come to realise that these mansions are all somewhat the same, with variety mainly on whether there’s a tower, and in the verandahs, with solid ones … Continue reading Victorian Mansion for sale, Kew →

Repost 2017: #NationalGalleryofVictoria main #courtyard. Original design #RoyGrounds, completed 1968; exterior and courtyard walls clad in Melbourne #bluestone, pretty unusual for the 60s. The #Glassroof and that triangular thing masking the escalators part of complete overhaul in 2003 designed by #MarioBellini. What happened still makes me mad, there’s more floor space, but the woody textured … Continue reading NGV, so altered →

Repost 2014: If you look up, there’s lots to see !

Repost 2017: Hadnt noticed this before, on the 1930 Collins Street #AMPbuilding above the door - a #Statuary group known as #Amicus, apparently part of every #AMPbuilding, even into the 60s. Full title “Amicus certus in re incerta” (translation “"a friend in need is a friend indeed"). Here’s some others, first is 1912 from Oamaru … Continue reading AMP statuary →

Repost 2019: This small but cute Art Deco block on #HoddleStreet in #EastMelbourne has an odd splay and steps back down the side - not just to offer a nicer side garden, but in order not to build on the #HurstbridgeLine ! Which was connected to the city via this cutting and tunnel through a … Continue reading Flats on the edge →