18 November 2023 The now beautifully restored Prahran Arcade is one of the most extravagant products of the 1880s boom, both in its scale and purpose, opening with great fanfare in July 1890. It was a huge risk, since the arcade only led to a Turkish baths at the rear, and Chapel Street was just … Continue reading Prahran Arcade →

9 October 2023 Delightful house in Gurner Street St Kilda, looking like a country cottage, with big trees in front, a messy flowery garden, and charming peeling paint. Not separately listed in the st kilda heritage study so all I can say is it was built before 1873, when it appears in the Vardy map, … Continue reading Country charm in St Kilda →

7 April 2023 There were two competitions for the design, neither built. The first image is the winner of the 1864 competition, by Reed & Barnes, sort of Renaissance with French chateau roofs (a bit odd in my option) . The second image (a bit vague) won an earlier competition in 1853, by Knight & … Continue reading Government House rejected designs →

6 October 2023: The Old Treasury Building was famously designed by JJ Clark when he was only 19 years old, and is regarded as one of the finest 19th Century public buildings in the country. It’s all quite remarkable. There’s a book on Clark by Andrew Dodd from 2012 which points out a probable source … Continue reading Old Treasury Building →

2 November 2023 So I haven’t finished my ‘Melbourne as it might have been if Hoddle had laid it out differently’ project – I’ve now done a series of plans for the eastern end of the city, one for every few decades, to more accurately lay it out (which I should have done first!). Major … Continue reading What Hoddle should have done, sequential plans →

17 September 2024 Packing a punch in Danks Street Middle Park - a great curly gable thing on smallish house - as my mother would say ‘it’s all front’. Can’t find out a thing about it, but no doubt c1910 like most of the red brick Edwardian houses around it. However I did learn that … Continue reading Edwardian houses, Middle Park →

Original post 28 October 2016: The Retreat Hotel Abbotsford, one of the cutest pubs around. Also possibly the only pub in Victoria with a pretty much intact Edwardian interior, and it's beautiful. Built c1915, architects probably Sydney Smith and Ogg who did loads of pubs in this period often with corner turrets eg Victoria Inn … Continue reading Retreat Hotel, beautiful and rare interior. →

Original post 30 October 2017: A complex that includes the church, the 1930s #churchhall, and two more levels of halls as well, arranged around a courtyard, all connected by an attenuated arcading/cloister - which extends down the other side of the church and round the back where it forms the #escapestairs. The interior is restrained, … Continue reading St George’s Peace Memorial Church, East Ivanhoe, Frederick Romberg, 1964 →

Original post 24 October 2018 Delightful doorway spotted near my place - turns out it’s called The Mayfair, 39 #EildonRoadStKilda, and there’s photos of it at @library_vic from when it was built in 1941. It’s sort of French Chateau style (or maybe Chateau Marmont). A follower on Instagram found that there’s another block with many … Continue reading Mayfair, St Kilda →

27 October 2023 Just real estate pics now it’s up for sale, but I’m posting this because it was near where I grew up and with big hedges you could only glimpse it, and it looked very grand! It’s called Fairholme, 35 Prospect Hill Road, Camberwell, and it was built in 1872, designed by Crouch … Continue reading Fairholme Camberwell →