6 July 2024 This rather mad thing once stood at 480 Flinders Street; it was a renovation of an old pub in 1915 to create a home for the wharfie’s union, and one of the very few things known to have designed by Robert Haddon (though as a ‘design consultant’ he had a hand in … Continue reading Wharf Labourers Building →

6 July 2018: Dunno if this is a #HolgarandHolgar but it sure looks like one ! 26 Summit Drive, Bulleen, I’m guessing c1970.

5 July 2024 This stylish but curious thing on Little Collins (once George’s Hostess Store) has a long and interesting history. It was first built in 1891 as a Cyclorama, a huge circular building that housed an illusionistic 360* painting, with a central viewing platform creating the illusion of being somewhere else - the first … Continue reading Moorish style in Little Collins →

4 July 2024 There’s this big old motel thing on Fitzroy Street St Kilda, perhaps 1960s, not much to look at, and about to be replaced by something also unremarkable - ok, maybe a bit better. But also bigger, with 5 levels and including the old nightclub, currently enlivened by some Council sponsored art by … Continue reading New developments in Fitzroy Street →

3 July 2024 A rather nice bit of Victorian polychrome brick in Blessington Street St Kilda - which anyone in St Kilda would probably recognise as Albert Tucker’s house. He lived there from 1980 till his death in 1999, and so painted his late works in the studio out back, still there. It’s rather a … Continue reading Albert Tucker House →

2 July 2024 MIMI in Eildon Road, St Kilda - looks like a house, but built as 4 flats, which I only realised seeing the 4 letterboxes; there an external stair on the far side. It was sold in 2015, with less concrete in the front yard, and some pretty nice interiors, which seem to … Continue reading 1920s flats, a bit ruined →

2 July 2014 Repost 2014: 1960s #electricty #substation #controlroom, #openhousemelbourne opening do. I thought it was a tour of the Spencer Street Power Station, though mostly demolished by then - it was actually a tour of the substation on the corner of Spencer and Lonsdale, which was first built for the railways c1916, and is … Continue reading Railway Substation, Lonsdale Street →

24 June 2024 Great house in Foster Street St Kilda; actually it’s a two flat, looking like a single house. Probably about 1920, all lovely original unpainted rough cast, cute projecting bay windows, original fence with driveway portal thing etc. Not sure about the blue of the gate. Nice garden. Last sold in 2002, with … Continue reading Arts & Crafts Bungalow style →

24 June 2024 Lisieux House, 100 George Street, East Melbourne, a rather elegant Georgian style block of flats trying hard to look like a mini mansion. Designed by PJ O’Connor and built in 1934. It was sold as a block in 2018, and still seems to be a rental. It’s got a larger flat up … Continue reading French Georgian →

2 July 2013 Essendon Technical School in Buckley Street, opened 1939, and one of Percy Everett’s best designs - and he did a lot as Chief Architect of the Public Works Department, 1934-53. This one has sharp rectangular horizontal forms contrasted with that projecting semi-circular stair and vertical element marking the entry, using three colours … Continue reading Essendon Tech Moderne →