Original post 17 Feb 2016: FantasticFacade of the Cartmell Buildings built sometime in the 1880s, with a degree of chunky detail like that on designs by #normanhitchcock, photographed on #brunswickstreetfitzroy in the 1950s. Sometime after 1962 all that rich detailing was scraped off. But they left the shopfronts behind, which are still there.

Original post 19 February 2019: Nearly all the shops in #RipponleaVillage on Glen Eira Rd were built 1912-1920, so they’re all a similar style, red brick Edwardian with some #ArtsandCrafts leaning. They’re mostly plain, but there’s a few standouts, like the corner number, 1st pic, very #EdwardianFreestyle, from 1918, architect Arthur Plaisted, the arched one … Continue reading Ripponlea village shops →

Original post 17 February 2017: Shocked but this development is a nasty example of facadism, and they even demolished and rebuilt the facade - why bother? The Ode, Grey Street, #StKilda. Looks slightly less massive without the scaffolding, but the (new) #Victorianfacade looks rather overwhelmed. Not to mention open gaps instead of windows. Well the … Continue reading Reconstructed rather than preserved- The Ode, St Kilda →

Original post 17 February 2018: This building bugs me every time I see it- not because it’s bad architecture but because it was the first building after #plotratio was dumped in 1999, just as the apartment boom started, with lots of big buildings that went straight to the Minister (over 50,000sqm rule) and his department … Continue reading Liberty, Collins Street, grr →

Original post 17 February 2019: What happened to the #tower ?? Cute Edwardian shops at #Ripponlea has finally been fixed up but without the tower ! What a shock.

17 February 2021 Some old-time isolation facilities (Covid!). This is the late 1940s ward block at the Greenvale Sanatorium for #tuberculosis patients, way out in a then isolated spot because TB was infectious. It was built 1947-8, but not officially opened until 1950. Designed by the prolific #PercyEverett (the drawings are dated May 1946), it … Continue reading Greenvale Sanatorium, Percy Everett →

Original post 16 February 2019: Repost from 2019: In Cecil Street South Melbourne - someone’s idea of a Victorian style #terracehouse, and actually I think it’s OK - clearly not Victorian (to me anyway), but the appropriate level of detail, it’s got a verandah, fits right in. Could be 80s, could be recent. An attempt … Continue reading Spotted in South Melbourne →

Original post 16 Feb 2021: “There’s been considerable thought and effort put into the facade of the new building, and how that complements the existing heritage building on the site.” Quote from today’s @theageaustralia, by planners @human_habitats. But 3x the recommended #heightlimit. @bayleyward.architects. Original house ‘Eblana’ built c1883 for Thomas Jackson of @youngandjackson’s hotel, architect … Continue reading Too jolly tall in Jolimont →

15 February 2017: The Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne's most self consciously ancient world classical monument. The designs marries the Doric temple front of the Parthenon with the stepped pyramidal roof of the long lost ancient Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (in modern Bodrum, Turkey). Designed by Hudson & Wardrop, who won the competition 1923, but it wasn’t … Continue reading Shrine of Remembrance →

Original post 15 February 2018: Holy Eucharist, East Malvern, #AlanGRobertson, 1962. So many odd choices, perhaps an example of what #HeritageVictoria would call ‘not well resolved’. Huge symmetrical front and thrusting angular entry porch, but then a bit to one side with a neat little hexagonal skylight over the #baptistery; the whole thing starts tall … Continue reading Holy Eucharist, East Malvern →