7 November 2024 I’ve always like 100 Collins Street, or is that I’ve always known it was the first proper curtain wall in Melbourne, and so very 50s ? It must have come as a bit of a shock to Melburnians popping up in the Paris end in 1955, all shiny blue glass amongst the … Continue reading All glass on Collins Street →

4 November 2024 Collecting as many photos of public buildings by Chief Architect Percy Everett as I can find, and realised he didn’t always create a masterpiece. For instance, Werribee Police Station (late 30s ? demolished) is really a collection of elements rather than dynamic massing (but fun); Montague Police Station (c1940, demolished) is a … Continue reading Percy Everett misses →

6 November 2024 A couple of random examples from 10 years ago of the kind of thing that’s made our main steets so much messier, but they’re here to stay and will be joined by others. The first one is High Street Thornbury, now with a matching scale one to the right, still a vacant … Continue reading Infill as sore thumbs →

5 November 2024 The very fine Royal Melbourne Regiment Drill Hall in Victoria Street near the Queen Vic Market, was built 1937 and designed by George Hallendal. He was Commonwealth architect for work in Victoria at the time, and designed a few other great #drillhalls but this is the grandest. It’s got a stylised classical … Continue reading Stylish Drill Hall →

5 November 2020 My favourite now lost #terracehouses from ‘Early Melbourne Architecture’, by Maie Casey, published 1953 - the first book to see Melbourne’s architectural heritage as worthy. The first one is so Regency, at 20 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy, replaced by some 70s townhouses; the Neoclassical one was in Nicholson Street Fitzroy replaced by one … Continue reading Early Melbourne Architecture now gone →

4 November 2014 Cute little house down industrial end of #Argylestreetfitzroy. This could be say 1860s but equally could be 1880s. Pity about the bricks being totally #sandblasted and the cement tile roof. Update 2024: it was sold in 2015, and renovated, now has a picket fence and a back bedroom with only skylights, and … Continue reading Plain brick cottage →

1 November 2024 The impressive style Holy Cross Catholic Church in Glenhuntly Road, South Caulfield. Designed by Ole Jorgensen, the foundation stone was laid and blessed by archbishop Mannix in Nay 1937, and was in use by September (! maybe already half built when Mannix got there). It’s done in varied slightly shiny red-brown bricks, … Continue reading Caulfield South village →

1 November 2017 The dainty painted decoration of the Canterbury Theatre in Maling Road, 1912. Second oldest intact purpose built cinema in Melbourne (after the Northcote Theatre). Simple hall-like space with exposed trusses, like many other early pre WW1 cinemas, though some like Northcote and the Barkly Footscray had plater ceilings. The exterior just looks … Continue reading Early cinema in Canterbury →

31 October 2024 Not sure if this caused a stir in 2013 when I took the photos, but the sudden loss of two Edwardian shop houses in Burwood Road East Hawthorn, near the Tower Hotel looked bad. They were replaced by a small set of apartments completed in 2016 which sort of fit in, I … Continue reading Shock shop loss in Hawthorn →

30 October 2024 Two very similar buildings in Bourke Street between Elizabeth and Queen, usually obscured by trees. They’ve even got balconies in similar positions. The first one is more elegant, and was built 1928/9. No architect I can find but seems to have been built by and for a Pearson Rowe Smith & Co, … Continue reading Almost a pair, Bourke Street →