Repost 2019: The crazy #balustrades that #EsmondDorney used on his early 1930s flat developments are the clearest link to his having worked in the office of #WalterBurleyGriffin. The flats themselves are sometimes called Prairie Style, but I think that’s a stretch. This block, Garden View, is in #BlessingtonStreet, #StKilda, built 1934. More pics 2024 19 … Continue reading Early Esmond Dorney →

Repost 2017: The #Olderfleet and #Rialtobuilding group, one of the best and most exuberant late Victorian streetscapes anywhere ever. All built between 1888-1891, all a similar height and level of detail, all Gothic except one. Almost lost in the 70s, just as #heritageconservation was taking hold, the eventual compromise being the retention of the from … Continue reading The Olderfleet – Rialto Gothic streetscape →

Repost 2019: ‘Tudor Close’ in Eildon Road #StKilda is described in the #CityOfPortPhillip #heritagestudy as ‘one of the finest and best preserved Tudor style block of flats in the city’, but no architect or date ! But they are fine, not only for the wealth of detail, #halftimbering and #battlements, but also for their oddly … Continue reading Bernard Evans Tudor →

11 September 2021 The Corkman hotel on Leicester Street Carlton, was illegally demolished over the weekend of 15-16 October 2016. The pub was built in 1856, and enlarged in 1889. photo The Age (James Bowering), photo Broadsheet 20 June 2019 So sad, the colonial era 1856 #CarltonInn aka the #CorkmanHotel is still a pile of … Continue reading Carlton Inn / Corkman hotel →

11 September 2014/2025: Swinburne Technical School Chemistry Building, Burwood Road Hawthorn, 1946 - another #modernist / #artdeco creation by #percyeverett of the #publicworksdepartment. I like the stepped effect, including the #steelframedwindows, Percy always liked to make an impact even on small projects. Missing a giant flagpole, which I now realise was tapered up from the … Continue reading Swinburne Chemistry, 1946 →

10 September 2019, updated 27 December 2024: The speccy Del Marie in #StLeonardsAve #StKilda, one of best Art Deco blocks around, partly because it’s so 3D, and sticks up, with that little tower marking the stairs down the side. A bit hidden by a majestic palm, and a lush garden. Built 1937, designed by #StuartHall, … Continue reading Del Marie, St Kilda →

9 September 2013: 'Palmer Hous'. Nice #midcenturymodern #lobby not amazing but one of few we got in #melbourne. In fact now I think of it practically the only mid century lobby left. Nice #terrazzo and green #marble outside white inside. To be #demolished, since only C graded. 2021: 8 years later the too- squeezed-in new … Continue reading Lost Modern in Collins Street →

Repost 2018: Naliandrah, Glendye Court, Toorak, one the many fabbo houses by Polish -born husband and wife team #HolgarandHolgar, this one from 1967, for Alan and Ada Selwyn, and perhaps their first big lush Toorak house. This one could be a contemporary design, with a patterned screen and a pointy curved wing to one side … Continue reading 2 Holgars in Toorak, in the same street. →

The Prahran Arcade is being restored. Or at least the facade - some very rusted iron being replaced, and ancient peeling paint removed, and then a skim coat on all that delicate detailing. Overseen by @rbaarchitects, works by @aboderestoration. Here’s what I said in 2016 - The #prahranarcade possibly one of the most extraordinarily mad … Continue reading Prahran Arcade restoration →

Repost 2019: Rainy Sunday so off to the #MelbourneJewishMuseum ! The Kadimah Hall in #LygonStreet was built in 1933 as a secular community hall, and had its own Yiddish theatre troupe (!) - the community moved south side in the postwar period, and since 1969 its belonged to another (rather smaller!) migrant community; Loved this … Continue reading Jewish Museum visit →