26 September 2018: Dr Bowens surgery and townhouse, later known as Portland House, built in 1872, architect #LloydTayler. The facade was restored by @aboderestoration and @opataustralia in 2015, see my photo from 2013 (one of my first instas !), which shows the ivy that had been there for decades. Just wish they'd restored/improved the 1960s … Continue reading Dr Bowen’s Townhouse →

25 Sept 2021 Help save Sunshine Tech ! Built 1938 by my fave designer #PercyEverett, chief architect of the public works department, in a fine Streamlined Moderne style. Closed some time ago, and now the Education Department, having failed to find a new use or properly secure the site, thinks the best solution is complete … Continue reading Sunshine Tech in danger →

Repost 2019: Always liked this #ArtsAndCraftsStyle #blockofflats in #GreyStreetStKilda, great tower-like massing, projecting eaves, and big arched windows. Built 1921, so it’s relatively early, almost late Edwardian really. Architect R Clifford Jasper. Symmetrical along both axes, with these crazy tight #scissorstairs on each side, which join across at the top - I once led a … Continue reading Arts & Crafts flats →

24 September 2019: This is seriously good; #Troon, in #OrrongRoad, #Toorak, 1957, by #JohnAndPhyllisMurphy. A long block with two levels of flats looking north over the car area, with a string of units behind, which face side courts, with bridge access over a heavily-planted walkway, all in #concreteblock. It’s a fair replacement for the first … Continue reading Troon, Orrong Road →

Repost 2016: #Stairhall of #RecordsOffice. When it was first part of #openhousemelbourne, so long ago it was before mobile phone cameras and instagram - in 2011 ! Like the rest of the building, traditional Victorian rather than Edwardian in any way despite its date of 1900. Really quite French Second Empire actually. Designed by #SEBindley, … Continue reading Records Office (Births Deaths & Marriages) →

Repost 2018: It’s nice but for me it’s a bit plain - cnr Eliz & Collins, built in 1940, designed by #StephensonTurner, it was a modern yet traditional design, but I would have preferred more one or the other. Or maybe it’s just that the stone needs a clean. It was built as the #ESandABank, … Continue reading ES&A (ANZ) Royal Bank Branch →

Repost 2019: A fab example of #GeorgianRevival, with a bit of #Mannerist thrown in. This is the MH #Baillieu house, 1926, designed by Harold #DesbroweAnnear, who started off radical Art&Crafts Edwardian, but moved on to this kind of quirky Mannerist Georgian in the 1920s. Some good shots including interiors from Australian Home Beautiful. It has … Continue reading Annear, Toorak and a Baillieu →

23 September 2019 #TrawallaCourt somehow looks very LA, which is unexpected in #LascellesAve in #Toorak - I guess it’s the combo of #ArtDeco with elaborate #Georgian/classical bits, and the overall rather solid massing, with attached balconies. It’s early for Deco in Melbs, dating from 1931, the architect was #LewisLevy, and this seems like the best … Continue reading Trawalla Court Flats →

Repost 2019: There’s quite a lot of #midcenturymodern #highrise in #Toorak, which I didn’t realise, because some a bit hidden in the leafy streets - this one in #OrrongRoad id only glimpsed, and it’s great ! It’s by #LesPerrott, built 1959, which makes it one of the earliest high rise flats in Melb. Check out … Continue reading Toorak High Rise No 1 →

So we just had an earthquake! Very rare, but it does happen. This building in chapel street seems to be almost the only damage, and a freind tells me the upper floor converted recently to apartments with a new roof, and clearly the new internal wall was not attached to the external one, so no … Continue reading Earthquake! →