10 May 2017: #SleighHouse (later #EldersHouse), corner Bourke & Queen, #BatesSmartMcCutcheon, 1964, could be criticised as a design that hovers uncertainly between slick modern and decorative, but I did always secretly love the #goldmosaictiles that emphasised the verticals, which are being rendered over ! 😡 60s revival never more popular, but grey on grey clearly … Continue reading Gold no more
9 May 2019, updated 2024 : Swann House in William Street was built in 1921-2 for the #StateElectricityCommission. Designed by their architect AR La Gerche, it’s rather plain, described at the time as ‘severe simplicity’, and a bit spoiled by two extra floors added in 1949. I saw a month ago it was scaffolded up, … Continue reading Swann House
7 May 2024 A bit of a local landmark, Arden sits at the beginning of Marine Parade, opposite Luna Park, and looks a bit exotic too. Originally a pair of Victorian terraces, it was given a makeover in 1934, designed by HV Gillespie in something that’s rather Tudor, or perhaps Moorish, but also rather flat, … Continue reading Moorish Tudor on the beach
5 May 2024 A little planing dispute, but because it’s in Toorak, it made the news in The Age. The mansion on the corner of Irving Road and Grant Street was built in 1929, and was designed by George Nichterlein, a relative of the owner, flour miller TJ Noske, who soon went broke in depression … Continue reading A Toorak heritage issue
7 May 2024 This cutie at 30 #LatrobeStreet has quite a varied and unusual history. First built as the Deutscher Turnverein in 1871 (facade 1874), architect #AlfredKursteiner, it was a hall for the German community for such pursuits as gymnastics and choral singing, and they’re still around as the #ClubTivoli. Seems like it was the … Continue reading German gymnastics
Original post 28 April 2014: Some social housing from 2012 in Brunswick Street, on the Atherton Gardens Estate - it actually sort of blends in between the trad #brunswickstreet shops and the 1960s #housingcommision blocks beyond. Designed by @birddelacoeurarchitects with @mccabe_architects doing the masterplanning, it’s visually interesting, or maybe a little too much going on. … Continue reading Public Housing, Brunswick Street
30 April 2024 Apparently yesterday was World Art Deco Day, so here’s a selection of Melbourne examples, all from 1930-1941 ish, arnt they great ? And all mostly intact, not just facades. I’ve stuck to big city buildings, but I could have done just flats or details or just one architect, so many to choose … Continue reading World Art Deco Day
27 April 2024 A bit of Mock Tudor in East Melbourne- Castle Coombe, complete with half-timbering, pointed arches, prominent chimneys, and irregular brickwork. Something that looks really like it should be in St Kilda. Built in 1933, and designed by Bernard Evans, who also did flats in St Kilda and elsewhere in Tudor, Georgian and … Continue reading Every man’s home is his Coombe Castle
27 April 2024 So the YIMBY (yes in my back yard) group was in The Age today complaining about the heritage listing of a church in Thornbury, saying that it will mean less housing, which wont help affordability. Firstly, its not a very nice church, but every old church has some historical significance for some … Continue reading YIMBY’s vs heritage
26 April 2016: The Rochester Castle Hotel in Johnston Street Fitzroy, a nice bit of elaborate and intact Victoriana but harder to see the detail now it’s all black ! Was a nice ochre in 2014, last time I snapped it. Update : the pediment says 1852, but for too grand for that date, rebuilt … Continue reading Rochester Castle, black
If the Nazi's never took power, would Berlin have Europe's tallest skyscraper and East Prussia be a honeymoon destination ?
Storey of Melbourne 