Original post 4 March 2018: A bit of #creambrick #bauhaus in Melbs, poorly treated - the #BabelBuilding at #MelbourneUniversity, so nicknamed by students cos it housed foreign languages, then made official. Built straight after the war, 1946-48. Only three floors then, designed in very European #modernist form by #GodfreySpowersHughesMewtonandLobb (so many partners !); in 1956-57 … Continue reading Babel Building →

Original post 3 March 2021: Very glad to see this house up for #heritagelisting by the @cityofgleneira - this is what I said in 2019 : The 1973 #KurtzHouse by #HolgarAndHolgar in #LumeahStreet #NorthCaulfield is not only amazing as a super-glam yet not kitschy design from one of my fave architect teams, but it survived … Continue reading Kurtz House, Holgar & Holgar, 1973- intact, then not. →

Original post 3 March 2021: Saved ! At least the facade. And just probably so far. It doesn’t look like much but it’s the principle. A project involving an office tower on the corner of Elizabeth and Queensberry Streets in Carlton South currently occupied by 5 buildings, three #heritagelisted as part of a precinct, but … Continue reading Upper Elizabeth Street development →

Original post 1 March 2017: The heroic statue / monument to the ill fated explorers Burke & Wills, who died in the desert after trekking from Melbourne to the north coast of Australia (and not finding an inland sea). That was 1861, and this, Melbourne's first major public monument (that wasn't imported) was cast by … Continue reading Burke & Wills →

Original post 1 March 2018: The 1927 National Bank by #AandKHenderson with its almost matching 1984 extension on the right (built after a long campaign by the #nationaltrust to save whole thing from complete dem for a tower). Strong expression of the #132ftheightlimit imposed 1916 and reimposed 1982. Also the facade recreates the 19thC 2 … Continue reading National Bank HQ Collins Street →

Original post 1 March 2021: So excited to see that St Johns Anglican Bentleigh (completed 1962, designed by Gawler Churcher & Drummond) is proposed to be #heritagelisted by Glen Eira Council (Update: now listed, including most original interior features). The @theageaustralia article quoted the vicar’s warden as thrilled to be so honoured (but worried about … Continue reading Marvellous Modernist Church, St John’s Bentleigh →

Original post 14 July 2019: One of my faves, #ElizabethChambers, 23 Elizabeth Street, near Flinders Street, built 1890, another one of those cbd #tallthinfrontages. Designed by #WilliamSalway, in a nicely decorative #RenaissanceRevival with a #QueenAnne flavour. After 40 years of neglect, with everything above ground floor vacant, it’s going to be restored, and not a … Continue reading Elizabeth Chambers →

Original post 23 February 2018: Rosenberg’s Shoes, probably one of the oldest businesses in the same shop in Melbourne (and oldest altogether, starting in 1903, though the 1894 Hopetoun Tearooms is older, current location from 1907), and definitely one of the prettiest most delightful #shopwindows in Melbourne. They’re now into the fourth generation running the … Continue reading Rosenberg’s Shoes, 65 Chapel Street Windsor →

Original post 23 Feb 2017: Nice #ArtDeco apartments, Powlett Street, #EastMelbourne. A Jennings, designer and builder, 1935. That was probably Arthur Jennings who went on to a house building empire, and his architect from about 1932 was Edgar Gurney, who did some great Moderne houses on the 1930s Jennings estates (amongst the much more numerous … Continue reading East Melbourne Art Deco →

Original post 23 Feb 2017: Canterbury Terrace, Powlett Street, #EastMelbourne, 1877-78, amongst Melbourne's longest terraces - 16 in all ! The central section has double level #arcaded #verandahs and there are simpler arcaded sections at each end, with #castironlace verandahs between, so it's not immediately obvious that it's all one building. No architect known, and … Continue reading Canterbury Terrace, East Melbourne →