Melbourne & Australian Architecture Topics

Statues in Melbourne - which ones are the best ?

1 minute ago

by The Collector (Posted 1 minute ago)

Zxath wrote:

simonj wrote:

Ok, what's Bunjil?

Personally I like the two soldier statues that used to be outside the museum, and are now somewhere around the Shrine.

Me too, they're great...but I don't think they're unique to Melbourne. I seem to remember that they were copies of British statues.

Info on the statues......

The Driver and Wipers

Text from A walking guide to Melbourne’s Monuments
Ronald T. Ridley

Sculptor: Charles Sargeant Jagger
Unveiled 24th February 1937;
Purchased by the felton Bequest

Following the death of the famous sculptor Charles Jagger in 1934, there was a large commemorative exhibition in England, which excited Australian interest in having some examples of his work. As the casts survived of some, further bronzes could be made. The National Gallery chose The Driver from the Royal Artillery Memorial, Hyde Park Corner, London, and Wipers from the Hoylake War Memorial in Chesire. After considerable argument over their placing when they arrived, at a cost of £1500 each, a committee consisting of Paul Montford, Leslie Bowles and Wallace Anderson suggested their placement in the forecourt of the State Library.
The placement of the two statues in Melbourne caused a sensation. The public’s appreciation was so tactile that within a month protests were made about the damage to the ‘bloom’ of the bronze from so much touching. On the other hand, some critics objected to the expense of such a large sum on ‘copies’ when works for the Gallery could have been purchased for the same sum. The placing was also not favoured: it was claimed that they were incongruous against the ‘classical dignity’ of the Library, and the Driver did not have a stone wall behind to set it off. The criticisms of position have weight: the statues would seem to have been better placed near the Shrine where they are now.

In the old photograph below, we can see the Wipers statue at its original site in the forecourt of the State Library, and in the following photographs of mine, we see the new site for the two statues, back to back near the Shrine of Remembrance.

Terrace houses in the burbs

7 minutes ago

by Matt. (Posted 7 minutes ago)
I dont have a photo, but theres a row of them on Burwood Hwy
across the road from Knox Shopping Centre,
i have only occasionally driven past, and never had a proper look,
i believe they're used as shops, also unsure whether they're
originals or not.

Department Store precinct (Myer & David Jones Redevelopment)

14 minutes ago

by The Collector (Posted 14 minutes ago)

franfran wrote:

Last time I was in Melbourne (a few years ago now - I'll have to go back some time soon) I took a couple of photos of Lonsdale House and Yule House - mainly because I'm interested in Art Deco. I had no idea at the time that they were under threat..............

^^ Yule House is not under threat.

Would You Buy It?

16 minutes ago

by Matt. (Posted 16 minutes ago)
Personally im not too keen on the interior of the house.

Footscray Station's new footbridge

27 minutes ago

by The Collector (Posted 27 minutes ago)
^^ I'm really liking the look of this.

Glebe - inner Sydney suburb

45 minutes ago

by Zxath (Posted 45 minutes ago)
Interesting link, thanks franfran

Eastern Sydney CBD pics

Today, 15:55

by franfran (Posted Today, 15:55)

The Collector wrote:

A shot I took inside of The Queen Victoria Building myself about ten years ago below.
I remember being marched out by two security guards after I took this shot and feared that they would confiscate my film.
I convinced them that I was just a tourist and they let me go with film intact, the only time that has ever happened to me.
They don't like the idea of photographers profiting from the QVB without the owners getting their share, they prefer you buy the postcards or slides they have for sale instead.

Well, it looks like I might have unintentionally been living dangerously, as I took some photos inside the QVB a few months back. Maybe they didn't see me doing it, or maybe I got away with it because I was using my mobile phone. Given what you said, I don't think I'll take my camera down there again though.........

Surrey Hills former 1915 post office demolished

Today, 15:10

by edwardiana (Posted Today, 15:10)
Makes me anxious about the likely fate of the North Carlton post office (sold last year for a reported 2.1 mill).

There's a frustrating youtube about that, with some real estate marketing guy remarking, with worrying understatement, that the sale "caused some controversy in the local community".

Wynyard Square - Sydney:

Today, 15:08

by The Collector (Posted Today, 15:08)
^^ I love Lulu, pity they (Hollywood producers) ruined her acting career when the talkies started.

Little Lonsdale terraces face demolition

Today, 14:57

by The Collector (Posted Today, 14:57)

The Little Lonsdale terraces facing demolition. Photo: Jason South

Melbourne photo for the day

Today, 14:51

by edwardiana (Posted Today, 14:51)

72-82 Collins Street

Today, 14:51

by franciswright (Posted Today, 14:51)
I think as part of appoving this, the developer should be made to rebuild the 3rd terrace house demolished to give Nauru House its Collins Street address (the gap)...or at least a superimpose a drawing of the original terrace house on the modern facade (ie: like Pamela Anderson on Sam Newman's former house in St Kilda) Now that would be KEWL!

New suburb at arms factory

Today, 14:08

by Corio (Posted Today, 14:08)
One thing that catches my attention is the contrast between the walkable "squaresville" pattern of the streets in the new development, compared with the subdivision over the river to the north-west, which features the typical late twentieth century layout of curved streets and dead-end cul-de-sacs, designed only for use by people driving cars.

Having said that, the plan of the new site does look more than a little regimented. It reminds me of the layout of industrial towns in the north of England, c. 1900. That arrangement will require careful attention to building types and landscaping to ensure it doesn't look too much like Bolton or Oldham.

Mansion replaced by mega-mansion in Brisbane

Today, 13:54

by Tempesta (Posted Today, 13:54)
Haha. It's not a commission it's a mission to make everyone move to Ballarat

Comprehensive Cancer Centre

Today, 11:40

by The Collector (Posted Today, 11:40)
Upcoming demolition of the former Royal Dental Hospital, Parkville –

Commencing first week of February 2010.

Demolition of the former Royal Dental Hospital (711 Elizabeth Street - corner of Flemington Road and Grattan Street)
is set to begin in the first week of February.

The removal of hazardous materials from the site has been undertaken in a controlled environment and in accordance with all required legislation, standards and regulations which apply to the removal of hazardous materials.

Throughout the demolition process, works will be undertaken from Monday to Saturday between 7.00am and 5.00pm (excluding public holidays) in accordance with Melbourne City Council by-laws.

Demolition is due for completion in mid 2010. The site will then be prepared for the construction of the Parkville Comprehensive Cancer Centre, a world-class integrated cancer research, education and treatment facility.

Construction is expected to commence in 2011.

All things Sydney-like

Today, 09:53

by franfran (Posted Today, 09:53)
Here's a shot I took of a couple of cars I saw parked outside the GPO in Pitt Street. I'm not sure what was going on, but my guess is that they were filming a commercial.

And here's three more shots I took that show some interesting old cars (for some reason there seem to be quite a few older cars in some parts of Sydney)

Sydney mug shots

Today, 09:06

by franfran (Posted Today, 09:06)

The Collector wrote:

^^ Classic postcard shot. " title="Applause" />

It's a photo that's been done so many times, but it's still worth looking at. I used to use a smaller version of that one as my signature on another forum...........

Spot the differences - now and then photos from NW suburbia

Yesterday, 22:21

by slumberjack (Posted Yesterday, 22:21)

Quote:

In our regular visits to her place in the 1950s and 1960s. I recall how the night-time scene from her living room window, which faced north, became increasingly filled with the pin-points of street lights, as suburbia spread inexorably thorough Balwyn North (or is it North Balwyn?) and Doncaster. - Corio.

Hmmm, a then and now series of aerial shots would be great but probably hard to get right. I've met old (...er than me) people who took their honeymoon in Doncaster when it was orchards and the best part of a day to get there. One of the things they should do out there is to put the tram back into Tram Road. Box Hill railway line to Doncaster would be a cracker, says I, who lives on the other side of town.

Regarding Wellington Parade - that's a nice comparison that we can all relate to. Such a nice shady spot on a bustling city workday also. I love looking for the same species of trees and other such details to see if I can spot any continuity over the years. I had never actually thought that the parkland on the right before the railyards would have given such a nice boulevard running East from town. I'm glad they no longer fence of parks though, that one mystifies me.
Also, it is just my eyes playing tricks or does Wellington Parade look wider? I am almost certain that Albion Street is narrower nowadays than in the old shot as the scale seems fairly correct, or are old lenses deceptive?

Passenger trams for bendigo.

Yesterday, 19:29

by topahend (Posted Yesterday, 19:29)
http://www.theage.com.au/national/bendi ... -nkt1.html

Quote:

AN ANNUAL ticket on the tram network costs an adult just $30. The colourful trams that grace its tracks carry conductors but no ticket inspectors, coin-operated ticket machines nor contraptions that momentarily swallow your ticket.

Soon, the network's trams will be able to stop for the first time at a Melbourne-style tram ''superstop''.

Welcome to Bendigo Tramways, a system that is about to get a substantial upgrade. The gold rush may have long passed, but Bendigo's trams are about to enjoy a bit of their own boomtime.

The city's historic tram depot, which doubles as a workshop and a museum, will get a $3.1 million redevelopment thanks to funding from the Victorian and federal governments and the City of Greater Bendigo.

The project includes an extension of the depot and workshop, redevelopment of the administration building, landscaping and heritage conservation and safety works.

The chief executive of the Bendigo Trust that runs the trams, Tom Seddon, said that when the works were completed, Bendigo Tramways would be able to employ an extra 22 full-time workers in the depot and in other roles such as conductors and guides.

Extending the depot would virtually double the workshop's capacity, he said.

Mr Seddon said the workshop had huge potential and it made or restored parts for trams in several American cities and other places around the world.

''There are very few places in the world that do this sort of stuff and there has been a real resurgence in the last few years in the United States and elsewhere of interest in tramways for medium-sized cities,'' he said.

''The discussion that Bendigo is having about whether or not to return its trams to public transport is much further along than in many US cities. Christchurch, New Zealand, is doubling the length of its tramway right now,'' he said.

The Bendigo tram depot is Australia's oldest continuously operating tram depot and was built in 1903, when Bendigo moved from trams towed by steam locomotives to an electrified system.

''One of the great things about Bendigo is that so much of its history is intact,'' Mr Seddon said. ''So much of it is left and the tramway is one of those things.''

Bendigo's network has 4.5 kilometres of track, which Mr Seddon hopes one day can be extended. Trams run every half hour from 9.30am to 4.30pm and the system also has a restaurant tram.

The tram fleet has almost doubled from 23 in 1972, when it moved from a public transport network to a tourism line, to 40 today.

Work on the depot will begin next month.

A superstop for tourists. Seems like they hardly need it.

Pillar Boxes

Yesterday, 17:11

by The Collector (Posted Yesterday, 17:11)
One more at the northwest corner of Rathdowne and Victoria Streets.

West Gate Bridge upgrade

Yesterday, 16:39

by chewy5000 (Posted Yesterday, 16:39)
Just fix up the presumably broken lights on the cables and it'll look fine. They could probably do that for 500 bucks.

A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MELBOURNE ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY

Yesterday, 11:55

by edwardiana (Posted Yesterday, 11:55)
Fantastic resources here. Keep 'em coming!

Good to see Sean Godsell getting a guernsey or two. I thought he was the most interesting interviewee in ABC-TV's "In the Mind of the Architect" (http://www.abc.net.au/arts/architecture/).

Not a book, but just to balance the fact that Marion Mahony Griffin seems to have been the only woman architect/designer mentioned so far...

Sarah Schoffel (1996), "Women in Architecture in Victoria from 1860 to 1930", Architectural Theory Review, 1(1), 104 - 111.
This article questions the assumption that the architectural past is uniformly accessible. It
argues that this past has been obscured in that the contribution of women architects has been
ignored, forgotten or attributed to men. Even in the recent past of the last sixty years, women
architects' names have disappeared. This article is an attempt to discover some of this past,
by giving an account of women architects working in Victoria in the years between 1930 and
I960.

Based on the author's undergraduate thesis, ("Women and Victorian Modern," unpub. B.Arch. Dissertation, Department of Architecture, RMIT, 1988).

Double Decker Trains

Yesterday, 11:28

by franfran (Posted Yesterday, 11:28)
I can't see why double deck trains couldn't work in Melbourne just as well as they do in Sydney. And they do work here.

The only real problem with them is that you're trying to fit about 75% more people into each carriage but still use the same number of doors as for a single deck train, which means that they take longer to load and unload than single deckers, although this shouldn't be a problem if it's taken into account when designing the timetable. A few years back they tried to accelerate the timetable here, with the result that there was not enough time for the trains at the stations, and predictably, time-keeping suffered. Thankfully that timetable is now history and the present one is much more realistic.

The trains run pretty much on time here - although having said that, my train was cancelled this morning, but that's rather unusual....

Hawthorn Coffee Palace

07 Feb 2010, 23:01

by Corio (Posted 07 Feb 2010, 23:01)
When the abomination that is the re-built St. Kilda Junction was being blasted through in the 1960s, a "Granny Stayput", who had refused to make way for the bulldozers in Wellington street, received a good deal of media coverage. ISTR a photo of her standing in front of her Victorian terrace, when all about her was the wasteland of a road construction site.

Former windows in a bluestone wall?

06 Feb 2010, 22:27

by Matt. (Posted 06 Feb 2010, 22:27)
haha i agree with you tho, something like that would look good there

It's a long way to the top....................

06 Feb 2010, 10:14

by Zxath (Posted 06 Feb 2010, 10:14)
brilliant! " title="Applause" />

Aerials of Melbourne

05 Feb 2010, 10:58

by pegasusbsb27 (Posted 05 Feb 2010, 10:58)
Wow! It wasn't an evolution. It was a Revoltuion!