9 September 2023 This prefabricated cast iron terrace pair that once stood at 35-37 Smith Street Fitzroy was probably manufactured in Glasgow in 1853. Many thousands of iron houses, large and small, stores shops and even churches were imported during the gold rush of the early 1850s, of which less than 30 remain. Usually they … Continue reading Prefabricated iron terrace houses, Fitzroy →

14 September 2024: Great photo from 1962 via @heraldsunphoto_retro of POST girl Jenny Boyle admiring the just restored last gas lamp in the city, on Collins Street just down from the Manchester Unity. It was put up in the 1880s outside a chemist, a time when business put up their own lamps. After electric lighting … Continue reading Gas Lamp, Collins Street →

Original post 13 September 2017 updated : A rather fun bit of postmodernism in Hotham Street East Melbourne. Dating from c1983, it was (and possibly still is) the home of Daryl Jackson, who did some notable Brutalist things in the 70s (such as the MLC library in Kew), then went on to sometimes delightful Pomo … Continue reading Postmodern Daryl Jackson house in East Melbourne →

Original post 30 November 2017: Wilson Hall at Melbourne University was designed by Reed & Barnes, and opened in 1882. It was one of the greatest secular Gothic Revival structures in Australia, along with the Great Hall at Sydney University. But in January 1952 a spectacular fire broke out (Melbourne Uni archives have quite a … Continue reading Wilson Hall, Melbourne University →

10 September 2023 Nice fountain at the entrance to the not so nice Westpac black glass tower in Collins Street, next to Scot’s Church, completed 2015. The splashing bowl is a little bit lost in the whole thing - partly because it was reused from a much smaller version built in 1980 (2nd last pic), … Continue reading George’s Fountain, 1980 + 2015 →

Original post 8 September 2019 updated : In High Street Armadale, opposite where Sotheby’s used to be - yes it’s #ArtDeco like it says, but a bit 30s Modernist too- since it’s by Seabrook & Fildes who brought a Dutch bricky kind of Modernism to Victoria with Macrob Girls High in 1934. This is 1938, … Continue reading Art Deco, High Street Armadale →

5 September 2023 This rather mad eclectic combo of Queen Anne gables, cast iron verandahs and spiky mansarded towers was built in 1885 as the Homeopathic Hospital in St Kilda Road (later Prince Henry’s). It was designed by Crouch & Wilson, who had done both the blind and deaf institutions down the road. It’s hard … Continue reading Homeopathic Hospital →

2 August 2023 The fabulous Cathedral Room at the Gothic Bank in Collins Street is now a French restaurant, Reine. It looks very nice, and doesn’t detract from the soaring space at all. The only thing is there’s a door at the rear that wasn’t there before, intended to ‘activate’ by allowing walk through, but … Continue reading Cathedral Room now a restaurant →

Original post 30 August 2019: Cute little Victorian house on Victoria Street in #StKilda, just up from the Esplanade; they really went to town on the #verandah ! Not only does it follow the double #baywindow frontage, but the roof is rather short and steep, so you see a lot of it, normally there be … Continue reading Verandah not quite right but I like it →

29 August 2023: This fab picturesque Gothic/Elizabethan house is St Kilda’s oldest, built in the late 1840s when there was only a scattering of houses on very large blocks. It was built by Samuel Jackson, one of Melbourne’s earliest architects as his own house, probably just after buying the block in 1846. Jackson subdivided his … Continue reading Wattle House, St Kilda →