14 September 2025 One of Melbourne’s ‘ugliest’ buildings and now revealed to be badly built to boot. South Yarra Square on the corner of Punt & Commercial Roads was completed about 1996, and first found fame for being built 1.29m higher than permitted, which then Minister Robert Maclellan resolved with a fine instead of demolition. … Continue reading Ugly and badly built →

13 September 2025 Would you believe this was a postcard ? Perhaps it was made for train buffs, since it foregrounds the infamous and long lived Jolimont rail yards, with loads of Tait trains (aka red rattlers), built around WWI and in fact rather beautiful inside. I remember as a teen coming in from East … Continue reading Beautiful Melbourne c1975 →

11 September 2025 Just found this pic of my house ! That is, the house that was transformed into my flats in Dalgety Street St Kilda. So exciting! Well for me and my neighbours anyway. Never thought I’d find a photo, but @historical_stkilda had it up, noting the address had been wrong. So it was … Continue reading My place →

9 September 2025 I think I had a breakthrough with my psychologist yesterday, but equally exciting was her new practice - in a very cute terrace with a lot of patterned tiles. I’ve seen them used here and there but not this many in one go. It’s called Ben Bolt Villa, built 1888, near the … Continue reading Balaclava Kambrook →

9 September 2025 St John’s in Finch Street, East Malvern is a surprisingly large church for a residential street, but then it’s been a pretty wealthy area since about 1900. Whats also surprising is that it looks exactly like a church designed in maybe the 1870s (see pics 6,7), but it dates from 1920-22 - … Continue reading St John’s East Malvern →

9 September 2025 Former Richmond Girls High, Gleadell & Highett Streets, a curious blend of modernist and domestic - completed in 1954, it was a late design by Percy Everett who had been such a stylish designer up to then, not sure why he went in for pitched roofs in later projects, maybe they were … Continue reading Richmond Girls High →

8 September 2025 The Shawcross building on Brunswick Street sure stands out ! It’s big bold and very Arts & Crafts, and rather early for that influence since it was built in 1902, when half-timbered Edwardian was all the rage. Described as ‘an imposing looking structure’ in the Fitzroy City Press, it was built by … Continue reading Shawcross →

7 September 2025 One of the zillions of little apartment projects, this one on Church Street Hawthorn, which I quite like - not too big, not to boring, not too silly, nice to see timber used externally, weathering nicely (or badly ?). Designed by @cactusarchitects, it’s about 10 years old. The occupants must like it, … Continue reading Small apartment block done well →

4 September 2025 I was going to just post this 2015 pic of the ex-State Bank in Swan Street Richmond, built in 1907, and designed by Billings & Peck, with its rather odd assortment of Queen Anne, Romanesque and Art Nouveau features - but that led me to the other similar State Banks I’ve seen … Continue reading So many Art Nouveau banks →

4 September 2025 A little survivor on Swanston Street opposite the city square /town hall station. I always thought it was just a shop terrace, but it’s what remains of a larger building. As the parapet says it was built in 1904, in a very retro Victorian style, and the right half was the Town … Continue reading Town Hall Hotel →