So the Hoddle Grid Heritage Review has finally been approved by the Minister and gazetted. That’s 121 buildings, and five little precincts. There’s some places that should have been listed long ago, and there are lots of little cute but sometimes rather altered places, and about 50 postwar high rise, some of which are rather … Continue reading Hoddle Grid Heritage Review complete →

I noticed something going on at the front of the Palais the other day- and this is it ! A big change and not sure I like it. Grass and plants and plaza instead of road is great but I would have maybe acknowledged the theatre a bit more - kept a diagonal view from … Continue reading Palais forecourt design →

Blair House, 17 St George’s Road, Toorak; a nice but not exceptional 1936 Georgian Revival design by Hughes & Orme (never heard of them I admit). Recently sold for the second highest price in Melb, $75 mill. Beautiful large gardens. It’s protected by a Heritage Overlay, so should be with us a while yet. Photos … Continue reading Top price in Toorak →

5 January 2021 The exotically named ‘Cairo’, Nicholson Street Fitzroy - a set of ‘bachelor flats’ with those famous cantilevered stairs. Many flats are compact #bedsits, with huge windows mostly facing north, with little balconies, so very light (perhaps too light in summer before the trees grew?). There’s 26 of those, while another 10 are … Continue reading Cairo, Fitzroy →

Spotted in Wellington Street St Kilda - and I like it ! Stacked shiny boxes. A bit crazy big for a house, but built for builder David McCallum and partner and children and their partners - some of the bedrooms are the size of a one bed flat or studio, but they shared the huge … Continue reading Stacked boxes in St Kilda →

July 2022 Proposed office tower behind the Comedy Theatre - looks like half is on a separate site (now a carpark) and half perhaps over the back stage, partly cantilevered structurally. That part actually on the Comedy site has to be approved by #HeritageVictoria, so there’s a long process. They might not like it, but … Continue reading Comedy Theatre tower proposal →

Above the awnings - St Mathew’s Church Hall and Sunday School, High Street Prahran near Chapel Street, 1891, Laver & Fick. Great bit of Gothic Revival, unusually large for a church hall, and built on the street, and across a side street from the actual church (which was never finished and cut in half inside … Continue reading St Mathews Church Hall Prahran →

Some more Lost Melbourne. Here is a selection of some of the Victorian skyscrapers all built between 1888 and 1891 and all now gone. They were built on the strength of a boom in land values which crashed in 1892, and the use of hydraulic elevators powered by a pressurised water system under the streets. … Continue reading Lost Victorian Skyscrapers →

This is the Flinders Street Station we nearly got ! Rather similar to what was actually built, no surprise when you know the background. On 28 July 1898, the Railway Commissioners released a design for a new 'Central Railway Station', published in the leader on 30 July 1898. There was a big dome on the … Continue reading Flinders Street Station prequel →

2021, updated 2026 This is the amazing but long gone Equitable Building, nw cnr of Collins and Elizabeth. It was designed about 1890, and took 6 years to build, out of load bearing granite and thick brick walls and an internal steel frame (I think). It was designed by Edward E Raht, German born, Paris … Continue reading Equitable Building, via New York →