October 2026 This unassuming little building in #HardwareLane is actually one of the first examples of #ArtDeco in Melbs, dating from Sept 1930 (only Coles Bourke is earlier, March 1930). Cyclone House was built as the HQ and showroom for the cyclone wire company, who made the eponymous mesh fencing and other wire products, at … Continue reading Cyclone House →

October 2026 Always another Victorian mansion to discover - Carrigal in Mason Street Hawthorn is pretty speccy, with turrets and tall chimneys, lashings of polychrome brickwork, including some diamond shaped bricks, and quatrefoil wrought iron. I think the other side is just as good or better, with a corner tower, but now has a building … Continue reading Pioneering polychrome →

1 October 2026 I’m surprised to see this simple Edwardian industrial building is still intact ! It’s on the pointy corner of City Road and Whiteman Street. It was built c1910, with a red brick front reflecting the gable roofs behind, and the ‘back’ wall is just just clad in corrugated iron. The heavy timber … Continue reading Southbank industrial →

September 2026 Under the clunky Pomo of that hotel on Bridge Road next to the river is a remnant of the cable tram network. It’s the front wall of the car barn of Melbournes first cable tram line, that ran along Flinders Street then Bridge Road to here, which opened in 1885. The line was … Continue reading Cable tram wall →

September 2026 Squeezed in next to the Talma Building in Swanston Street opposite the town hall is one of those skinny buildings that were once much more common around the city. It’s up for sale for about $20mill, and there’s quite a few interesting things about it - not including the architectural style, which is … Continue reading Music, Queer, Krishna, Chinese →

September 2026 I met up with a friend a while ago at a cafe which was inside Bed Bath’n Table in Burwood Road Hawthorn, which thought was a very strange idea but then I walked in ! It was inside the huge steel truss arched roof of a bottling plant built in 1955 for Fowlers … Continue reading Huge arches →

September 2026 Fantastic shot of the #RecordsOffice in Queen Street I havnt seen before, from the RHSV. So many trees impossible to capture the grandeur and exuberance of this major public building. It looks kind of American, or possibly even French, because it’s so very French Second Empire, with projecting wings and multiple mansard roofs. … Continue reading Records Office / Births Deaths and Marriages →

September 2026 Never seen this before! Two Victorian houses at right angles with a kind of shared front yard. They’re in the elbow of an L shaped side street in South Melbourne, Queen Street-Emerald Street, joining Ferrars to Dorcas. There’s a bunch of tiny houses, including three recent ones that fit right in - wonder … Continue reading Back lane cottages, South Melbourne →

September 2026 If you’re a fan of cast iron lace like I am, you’ll be interested to see this c1900 terrace Wellington Parade Sth, Jolimont - the balustrade and frieze above are examples of the Edwardian fashion for lace that looked like wrought iron, flat panels of curly rods, with a hint of Art Nouveau. … Continue reading Queen Anne terrace house →

September 2026 The York Butter Factory in King Street, looking fine in the winter sun shadows. For its first 50 years it was actually two separate bluestone warehouses built around 1854, one wider than the other, which housed a variety of businesses (pic 11 is a high of what it looked like from Old Treasury … Continue reading York Butter Factory →