16 August 2025 A rather extraordinary Toorak mansion we learned about in archi school but I’d never seen irl until today - it’s in Kooyong Road just north of Toorak Rd, and called Glyn, built in 1908, designed by Rodney Alsop with terracotta roofs and gables everywhere, in fact it’s huge ! And the walls … Continue reading Glyn, Toorak →

15 August 2025 A pair of nice churches on Sydney Road Brunswick - both Presbyterian, one succeeding the other. I like the bluestone one more, dating from 1864, designed by Charles Webb, small but soaring. Twenty years later they needed a bigger church, and I guess already had the land, and this time engaged Evander … Continue reading Presbyterian Churches, Sydney Road →

14 August 2025 Happened to go to this place for lunch - it’s on Nicholson Street, and called East Brunswick Village, and it’s a huge development, and it’s not bad ! I like the architectural expression in particular, lots of brick and tiles and textured precast too, and it’s all by @jam_architects, they’ve managed to … Continue reading Huge development, but nice. →

14 August 2014, updated: If you’re going to do #facadism then at least do it like this, cnr of Swanston and Pelham Streets Carlton. Couldnt believe it when I went past in 2008 and only 2 walls left of this nice #victorianpub, called the Canada (last pic is 2007 streetview). Turns out wasnt #heritagelistedat all … Continue reading Facaded pub →

11 August 2025 Airlie, another one of the dozen or so mansions left in St Kilda Road/Queens Road, now of course dominated by glassy blocks behind and next to - and in fact the curvy one (called Opera) seems to point down towards it. The house was built in 1891 for solicitor Frederick J Neave, … Continue reading Airlie, St Kilda Road →

11 August 2025 Some flats on High Street Armadale that stood out in the winter sun - Koonoona, cnr Hampden Road, was built in 1933, and architect M Sherlock was quite eclectic. There’s a more or less Art Deco arch, Georgian wrought iron, a classical portico, some Spanish barleycorn columns, and loads of textured clinker … Continue reading Eclectic interwar →

7 August 2025 I always thought the Brunswick Town Hall was a 19th one like all the others, but a little less detail - but turns out it’s mostly 1927! And a complicated story that I couldn’t find written out anywhere. So, it started as just the central section in 1877 in Renaissance Revival style. … Continue reading Brunswick Town Hall →

8 August 2025 Hadn’t really noticed this one before, but there it is, sticking up above the now very expensive Victorian cottages off Victoria Avenue, Albert Park. Like all the other Housing Commission towers, it would have been built in the 60s (update it was 1966), using the same pebble-dash precast panels from their factory … Continue reading Little Housing Commission tower →

7 August 2025 A bit of brassy bling on Collins Street - Cartier has been in 90 Collins Street since 2017, then spent much of last year renovating inside and giving the facade a make-over, by French architects Bidard & Raisisui - it’s nice, elegant even, lots of fluting. But really compared to the elaborate … Continue reading Cartier and Capers on Collins →

3 August 2025 This house still stands at 25 Queens Road, one of the dozen or so mansions left there or on St Kilda Road - it’s great, but the main front is obscured by planting. It’s a very vigorous example of Gothic style, with multiple bays and many gables, each with their carved barge … Continue reading Bendigonia, Queens Road →