18 January 2025 A fine streetscape we might take for granted, but so very Melbourne - Flinders Lane between Swanston and Russell, lined with multi-storey warehouses from the 1910s to the 1930s, mostly a similar height and width, all built for the rag trade or light industry, and all pretty much intact. Yum. First the … Continue reading Flinders Lane rag trade →

12 January 2024: Some Art Deco niceness in Bank Street South Melbourne, half hidden behind a tree, so I almost didn’t notice it. A 1936 refacing of an 1880s pub, designed by F Morsby (info artdeco blog spot). Revamping pubs like this was pretty common in the 1920s and 1930s. Sold in 2019 and then … Continue reading Ex Town Hall Hotel , South Melbourne →

13 January 2024 Some fun late #postmodern infill townhouses in Park Street South Melbourne, built in 2000 - I like that the facades have lots of detail, very 3D, and more or less fits into the historic streetscape. If it was built now it’d be just gridded balconies and stepped back extra floors. From und … Continue reading Pomo in South Melbourne →

10 January 2024: A famously abandoned house in Burnley Street Richmond. It’s been sold a number of times since 2012, so presumably empty since then ? (A nearby resident tells me possibly even before then). Most recently sold in 2020, with a permit for four townhouses, one of which is to retain the front portion … Continue reading Abandoned house, Richmond →

Original post 10 January 2020: Striking #shophouse on #SydneyRoadBrunswick (I finally went further than my own street) - unusual detailing, a bit naive actually, with those wide slightly wonky flattened arches with vermiculation inside, when it’s normally only used in bases or keystones. Also unusual that it’s part 3 floors - perhaps whoever built it … Continue reading Sydney Road Brunswick →

9 January 2024: Photos from 2015 I never posted - that abandoned house in Gipps Street, Abbotsford, near the Laird. Recent streetview shows it’s now covered with graffiti, and that bit of roof’s been fixed, but still looks abandoned. 2015 Streetview Oh, actually it was cleaned up and sold early last year. The interior has … Continue reading Abandoned house, Abbotsford →

Original post 9 January 2015, updated 2024 : This is a #goldrush #prefabricated #corrugatediron house, one of two pairs sitting mostly unnoticed on #brunswickroad #brunswick. James Blackburn Jnr is credited as architect, who somehow put together wide-gauge iron from Britain, over a timber frame of possibly Asian origin (Singapore a likely source) in 1854. This … Continue reading Prefabricated cottages, Brunswick →

8 January 2024 😡 yet more facadism, (photo @jfnolen) and somewhere once very nice. The Society restaurant at the top of Bourke Street is now just two walls, as is the 1901 shop next door. The buildings were sold in 2017, and a permit to do this was granted in 2019 before the new more … Continue reading Society just a facade →

Original post 8 January 2021: One of the more stylish and more structurally interesting #latemodern CBD office buildings - Australia Pacific House on #ExhibitionStreet was built in 1975-8, and designed by the #McIntyrePartnership (#PeterMcIntyreArchitect). He went for the structurally innovative prestressed and #posttensioned (didn’t know they could be both) beams spanning the whole width creating … Continue reading Check out those beams ! →

Original post 9 January 2016 Melbourne's history of streetlamps and a a story little told. The first were gas lamps installed from the 1857, which provided an uncertain flickering glow until the late 1890s when the city installed tall electric electric arc lamps at street corners, noted for their extreme brightness. Then in the 1920s … Continue reading Electric street lamps →