Original post 18 December 2016: Rather horrifying design for a tower for #RMITUniversity, cnr #SwanstonStreet and #LaTrobeStreet, 1969, #BatesSmartandMcCutcheon architects (now just #batessmart). Would have replaced #StoreyHall and overshadowed the #statelibraryvictoria forecourt. The raised podium would possibly have been the worst part. Much prefer the Edwardian shirt factory, even with the green brain. What looks … Continue reading Brutalism at RMIT →

Original post -5 December 2020: Oddfellows House is right opposite the State Library - originally quite striking bit of Art Deco, it’s reasonably intact, though with the paint and trees it doesn’t look that exciting anymore. It was built as an investment block for Manchester Unity in 1940-41, designed of course by #MarcusBarlow - I … Continue reading MUIOOF Building, Swanston Street →

14 December 2018: Laird and Buchan, with a young #PercyEverett, won a competition for the park in 1916, and also designed the particularly delightful almost Art Nouveau #bandstand built in 1919. Then they also designed on axis the elaborate Edwardian Baroque #WarMemorial, which rather nicely is called the #PeaceMemorial, built just after in 1922. It … Continue reading Johnstone Park , Geelong →

10 December 2023 Some photos from the Balwyn and North Balwyn heritage peer review - 18 places, mostly houses, going forward for heritage protection. I’m sure there’s more (or were more - some were proposed in 2015), but the good councillors at the @cityofboroondara have always been wary of the idea that modern can be … Continue reading Balwyn Modern →

2 February 2025 Pride March over, time for architecture! The wild curvy Pride Centre in Fitzroy Street, first pic just after the parade, others a week ago - as I said in 2021, the design, by @grantamonarchitects and @bauarchitects.urbanists, doesn’t attempt to represent LGBTQI in some obvious way (thank goodness) but instead was inspired by … Continue reading Victorian Pride Centre, St Kilda →

10 December 2023 Odd little survivor on Chapel Street, sandwiched between Dan Murphy’s and a Kathmandu. The arches now all blocked off on the upper floor perhaps once big windows. It goes right back to the carpark - and I now see the back end has a sign for the Big Store and a nice … Continue reading Big Store walkway Chapel Street →

Original post 7 December 2018: Harcourt & Parry Drapery, 1888, by #CrouchandWilson, sits very grandly in Park Street #SouthMelbourne, near the Town Hall; and unusually the facade is made of carved stone, and there’s a little tower, and you can see ‘H&P’ in lovely curly script up there. It was I guess a mini department … Continue reading Very big store, South Melbourne →

Original post 8 December 2020 Great shot of a bit of #LostMelbourne; one of the once numerous tall thin buildings in the central CBD, ‘The Strand’ was on Elizabeth Street, almost next to the great #ANZRoyalBankBranch. It was built in 1929, architects #PeckAndKemter, in a Gothic skyscraper style clearly drawing on NY precedents like the … Continue reading The Strand, Elizabeth Street →

Original post 7 December 2018 I didn’t think much of this till I got up close - #Banksia, at the #MelbourneDocklands, by McBride Charles Ryan, finished last year - the spiky bits are really spiky ! And #curvalicious, and moulded, I do like the legs and the crown. Won a few prizes. Still think it … Continue reading Banksia, Docklands →

4 December 2023 Just real estate photos but it’s petty special. The Lippincott house was built in 1917, and is nothing like the late Edwardian houses of the era - in fact it looks rather 70s ! It was built for Roy Lippincott, who was an architect in the office of Walter and Marion Griffin, … Continue reading Lippincott House, Eaglemont →