20 January 2018 : Former Albert Park Coffee Palace, built 1887-1889 in Bridport Street as an alcohol free hotel with 40 rooms and big lounge and dining rooms. After the Windsor it’s the most palatial one remaining. It was designed by my favourite High Victorian architect, #WSLaw, and has a similar top pavilion to his … Continue reading Grandeur in Albert Park →

18 January 2025 One of those pointy corner places that just look wrong on photos from certain angles. This one on Barkly Street St Kilda near Grey. Probably Edwardian given the houses next to it / behind are all that era. Very nice girly sign for Luna Moss Flowers, nice to see a good window … Continue reading A cute corner →

17 January 2025 I don’t mind the end result of the redevelopment of the Herald building in Flinders Street from 2005 - about 20m deep of the original 1920s building was retained, so the tower rises up well behind, you don’t notice it from the street. Another fun bit is that you can walk through … Continue reading Herald Building →

16 January 2018: The Herald’s Instagram account, @heraldsunphoto_retro, is all great Melbourne stuff from the 30s-60s; I’d heard about the Payne’s Bon Marche department store in Bourke Street but never seen a photo or knew where it was exactly. This photo is Christmas 1955, and I worked out it’s where the 1969 Hoyts Cinema Centre … Continue reading Payne’s Bon Marche →

15 January 2021: Hosie’s Hotel, in a shot I took in 2013. Always liked this one, and what’s not to like ? Jaunty 1950s shapes and colours. The architects #MussenMackayAndPotter weren’t doctrinaire modernists, but it was very modern for Melbourne in 1956; it was built in anticipation of the Olympic Games that year, opening 15 … Continue reading So very 50s →

9 January 2025 A lesser but quite nice work by @dentoncorkermarshall in Flinders Street from 1989, which has suffered a bit since then. As in the first photo (possibly 1989), it once had bright yellow fins, and a stylised cornice. My photos from 2015 show how faded the yellow was by then, and the cornice … Continue reading Faded Pomo in Flinders Street →

10 January 2025 This extravaganza of High Victorian stucco makes quite a statement, but oddly nobody knows much about its creation. It sits boldly on the corner Nicholson Street and King William in Fitzroy, near the Exhibition Buildings, and I took the pics in 2014. It’s on the Heritage Register, but all they say is … Continue reading Swainsthorpe House, Fitzroy →

6 January 2025 The St Kilda Synagogue in Charnwood Grove was completed in 1927, much larger than the first 1872/1904 one across the road, able to seat 1000. It was designed by Joseph Plottel in a suitably exotic stylised Byzantine, with a big low dome (which actually you only see from a distance down the … Continue reading St Kilda Synagogue →

6 January 2025 A bit of Brutalism hiding down Poplar Road in Parkville which I snapped in 2014 (first pic however is @brutalistcharm 2016, better than mine). I knew nothing about it then, and now it’s now proposed for heritage listing in the very recent Parkville Heritage Review, which tells me that it’s the WR … Continue reading Brutalist Lab in Parkville →

4 January 2025 The Presbyterian Church on Barkly Street St Kilda has dominated the hill since 1885, and just sold after only 2 weeks on the market. It’s got so little land, no room for underground parking for instance, so perhaps it was another denomination, or going to be a large house ? It was … Continue reading Presbyterian Church St Kilda →