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The Bloodied Wombat's Melbourne

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25.01.2022 Yarra River, #Melbourne, looking east across Princes Bridge from Southbank/Melbourne, late 1960s, with newly constructed Hilton Hotel at rear, and Robin Boyd's Southgate Fountain in foreground (built 1960 - removed c.1980 for Concert Hall) http://bit.ly/32FZuvl

25.01.2022 Pleased the awful Queens Bridge Place proposal, which did undue violence to the former Robur Tea building (2nd & 3rd images) has now fallen over. https://bit.ly/3nGZKFz

24.01.2022 BREAKING: Developers are seeking to DEMOLISH the fabulous Hub Arcade extension to Royal Arcade, famous as the site of the "dancing oldies" at White Night, for a new 12 storey hotel. The problem is it's only protected by a PRECINCT overlay (HO509), and this is the problem with precinct overlays. They can be a great way to get a whole significant streetscape protected, but they leave a degree of uncertainty around what is and isn't protected, depending upon what is spelled out ...in the associated scedule, and unfortunately VCAT has not been generous to the heritage community in how this winds up being interpreted. But this is gobshite. This is EXACTLY the sort of fine grained heritage whose retention has given Melbourne its identity. Sydney obliterated everything of this scale and nature DECADES ago. Buildings like this ARE why we have heritage protections. Hun paywall> https://bit.ly/2ZAgQuT

22.01.2022 Bourke Street Mall c.1978 with the first rudimentary street plantings prior to actual construction works c.1982. Guess what happened then? Traders whinged about loss of traffic/parking. What's the deal today? This block now commands some of the highest retail rents on the planet and is of course the city's premiere retail destination. ... CITIES ARE FOR PEOPLE. Who arrive at your store BY FOOT. Pedestrianisation = retail success. https://bit.ly/3aMh72Q

22.01.2022 Johnny Connell's Railway Hotel, S-W cnr Elizabeth St and Flinders Lane, circa 1959. A hotel has traded on this site since as early as 1838, but not known by this name until the mid-1850s. Greatly enlarged & remodeled sometime late 19th C. Demolished 1972 for ANZ Bank Offices, but continued trading as a basement bar. Today a backpackers.

22.01.2022 Broken Hill Chambers, 31 Queen st, c.1950, Built as one of 3 identical "Prell Buildings" all fronting Queen st, this is the S-W corner of Flinders lane. Built1880's, demolished 1970s. http://bit.ly/2rjQ5wG

21.01.2022 FACT 1: ACMI at Fed square was originally slated for a shopping Centre. FACT 2: There is NO retail anywhere on that side of the street between Fed Square & the far side of Lt Collins St to Nth & St Kilda Junction to the Sth FACT 3: Apple taking the CITY SQUARE (as offered) was the moment Melbourne missed! It would have helped Fed Square by creating better retail flow along that side of Swanston, and the square is alredy the perfect shape for Apple's stupid glass boxes.... If someone with even a LITTLE more brainpower/imagination than Phillip Dalidakis had been steering this project, the entire pointless hoo-hah could have been avoided. When I say "pointless", it in fact did serve to highlight that City of Melbourne URGENTLY needs a process for identifying relatively contemporaneous buildings of significance, before they become ruined the way Collins Place has. However, Council specifically cut off its last heritage review at 1975!!! More work needed, hopefully in THIS term?

20.01.2022 Bourke St "Mall", Melbourne, looking west towards Elizabeth St and GPO c.1870s. Prominent are buildings mostly demolished for Myer Stores, c.1910. On the L, James Hosie has recently divested himself of the Turkish Baths Hotel and the Bathing Palace to its left, (both built 1870s, demolished early 20th c.) on the site of the ANZ Bank and Foot Locker today. GPO Clocktower added 1887.

19.01.2022 Flinders Lane, #Melbourne, looking east from Elizabeth St, c.1914 - featuring Paterson, Laing & Bruce warehouse, built 1883, demolished 1976. Far R building demolished c.1938 for Carlow House. Much everything else is still with us.

19.01.2022 "billabongs and freshwater streams used by migrating eels once existed at what became Melbourne University. The old stream flowed toward the Yarra River via Bouverie and Elizabeth Streets" Fascinating information contained in this article - that a pre-contact stone eel trap similar to those that have just been granted World Heritage status at Budj Bim was recently found at a secret location in the Yarra River. And it raises the fascinating question of whether eels still follow these ancient migratory routes through our long-since undergrounded watercourses...

18.01.2022 Union bank of Australia (1878), formerly at 351 Collins St, Melbourne. Demolished 1966. The tower down the street is the City of Melbourne bank, also demolished. http://bit.ly/2ClWzgS

18.01.2022 68 Collins St W, #Melbourne, sth side, Market st to R c.1870s, with London Chartered Bank of Australia offices, built 1860s, demolshed 1936 for Trustees Chambers. Everything to its L, demolished 1892 for AC Goode House. Its RH neighbour Colonial Mutual Fire Building demolished 1923 for Aldersgate House. NSW Marine Assoc far R, demolished 1880s for fabulous Colonial Union Building (pic 2, sadly demolished 1943 for modernist version). We like to think of this block as a relati...vely in-tact heritage streetscape, but it's mostly an early modern streetscape erected over the top of an arguably much better Victorian one. The Colonial Union exchange was a REALLY bad one. Not the only bank to blandify a grand Victorian Collins St HQ in the inter-war period. https://bit.ly/38W0iSV See more

17.01.2022 Chapel Street, Windsor, Melbourne looking north from Dandenong Road towards railway underpass (vacant area on left), late 19th C. The far left-most building still exists, building on far side of Vine St demolished early 20th C. The Railway Hotel to its R was remodelled & extended in Grecian Revival style in 1927. The second shot is Google Earth's best attempt at the same vista today

17.01.2022 The fascinating tale of #Melbourne's former Williamstown Racecourse- one of the city's many long-disappeared racing venues, including John Wren's Richmond & Ascot Racecourses & White City greyound track also marked on the map here via Museum of Lost Things https://bit.ly/3cNyEse

17.01.2022 Buildings in Flinders Lane demolished late 1980s for rear of 333 Collins St #Melbourne, including Apollo Chambers at centre, seen here in 1972, photo J K Halla, c.1972.

17.01.2022 It's a pathetic failure of imagination and sense of their own histories on behalf of Richmond and Western Bulldogs that both Jack Dyer & Ted Whitten stands are now set for demolition. But Melbourne and Maribyrnong City Councils are the REAL culprits for failing to protect them

16.01.2022 Interior of the Don Camillo Cafe Bar, 215 Victoria St, West Melbourne, one of the few European-style coffee shops established in the 1950s (built 1955) that still remains in operation. EDIT - we're reliably informed it's now past tense, and they've recently closed :( One of the first such cafes in Melbourne, it retains much of its original character, including Formica tables, colourful terrazzo floor & neon blade signage. (which will probably now be all destroyed by the next tenant ...)

15.01.2022 "Goyder's Line Writ Large" - a 1945 map of #Australia, showing land areas suitable for cropping, grazing, and "useless" ... http://bit.ly/2XPLQoH

15.01.2022 Flinders Lane, #Melbourne, south side looking west from near Russell, c.1972 - basically everything clearly visible almost up to Exhibition St survives today, and is protected. http://bit.ly/2NLVgwR

15.01.2022 Little Collins St runs diagonally L to R towards Spring St, as seen from the top of the Melbourne Club in 1861. Thomas Doyle's Bakery is seen in the middle of the image, opposite a building advertising William Thomas Abernethy's Dairy, which was actually doors to the right of Doyle. What appear to be residences far L are actually William Henry's Blue Bell Hotel. ... Note the far from finished Parliament House in the distance. https://bit.ly/35qtpMy

14.01.2022 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, south side looking west from near Elizabeth (#331) towards Bond St c.1972. Amazingly, everything down to Bond St still survives protected today - leftmost building as Customs House. 3 to its R is Reid House, built 1909 (Bates, Peebles & Smart)

13.01.2022 Little Collins St, looking West from Swanston, 1915. On L is the Exchange Hotel, built 1854, remodeled as seen here (date uncertain but probably early 1900s), demolished c.1939 for Century Building. On R is Maritime Chambers, built c1860s, remodeled as seen here, 1870s (Crouch & Wilson). aka Lipshut's Corner (for the ground floor tobacconist we see here), it was demolished 1919 for Cann's department store, which stands here today (converted to apartments).

12.01.2022 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, looking west across Swanston St, early 1900s. Far R is warehouse building, remodeled 1930s as Regency House, then Cathedral Hotel (both demolished 1974 for city square). Far side of Swanston on R, building demolished c.1905 for Champion's Hotel, (demolished 1972 for new State Bank building), on L is Monahan's Building (demolished 1925 for Nicholas Building). Far R some early form of motor vehicle can be seen.

12.01.2022 Melbourne in Moomba-festive spirit, c. late 1950s, looking east up Collins from Swanston. Far R is the City Club Hotel, which would be demolished by Council for City Square in 1968, and its neighbour Wentworth House early 1970s for same. Those trees have grown up a bit in the last 60 odd years ... Mark Strzic, SLV.

11.01.2022 Spencer St #Melbourne, looking south from Collins St towards Yarra, c.1870s. Far R is original Spencer St Station building (built 1859, demolished 1960). The Vic Railways Offices won't appear on the right until 1890, and railway viaduct shortly thereafter.

10.01.2022 1951. Flinders Lane, #Melbourne, nth side, looking west towards Elizabeth from around Manchester Lane. Everything from the "Macks" sign to Elizabeth, demolished 1970s, but everything to its right survives protected today. http://bit.ly/33ohH1O

10.01.2022 Bush vibes abound, looking west along Collins St from Russell St, c.1840s. What came to be the most highly valued land on the rise at the east of the city, was actually the last area of the Hoddle Grid to develop. Henry Gilbert Jones sketch, SLV https://bit.ly/2OL8X3T

09.01.2022 Sucks to your Mardi Gras! Pink elephants and bare-chested Aladdins for some reason adorn the Myer Melbourne Moomba float in 1961, in a rare photo of the Queens Coffee Palace, NW cnr Victoria & Rathdowne Sts, built 1880s, demolished 1970s for awful single storey offices.

09.01.2022 Looking west along Collins St across Swanston, c.1870. Larrikins cavort in the streets, and the place really does still have a "wild west" ambience about it. Yet, by the 1880s this would be the heart of Marvelous Melbourne". Only the huge Bank of Victoria mid-image and Haig's Buildings far L would survive the 1880s. Nothing visible survives today. https://bit.ly/30XCY2D

08.01.2022 Palais de Danse Pictures, St Kilda foreshore, #Melbourne in 1915 - this was the original theatre on today's Palais site.

08.01.2022 My God, Fender Katsalidis are churning out some pap lately, but probably not grounds to reject. A waste of such an iconic site though. MANDATORY DESIGN COMPETITIONS, NOW, Melbourne!

07.01.2022 Looking SE from St Patrick's Cathedral towards the Yarra River, c1890. Foreground buildings mostly c.1850s. 1. Original Scotch College (1850s, relocated 1930s) 2. Scotch Chapel 3. Cliveden Mansions (1887, demolished c.1970 for Hyatt Hotel) 4. Fitzroy Gardens 5. Wellington Pde 6. Jolimont 7. Chalmer's Church (1850s-1920s)

07.01.2022 The 8 Hours Day procession, Apr. 1914 crosses instersection of Swanston & Bourke Sts, #Melbourne. On L is a recently completed new version of the Leviathan Clothing Co. On R, William Davies Portrait Rooms, demolished 1960s for Bradman's store far side of intersection & Watts Orient Hotel (built 1840s, remodeled early 20th C., demolished along with neighbour c.1930 for Foys Building).

03.01.2022 Alexander McCracken's former City Brewery buildings on the Nth side of Collins St (King St to L), late 1930s. McCracken sold the buidings to CUB c.1920. Now the offices of Alex Cowan & Sons printers & stationers & National Cash Register Company. Both demolished 1970s for 500 Collins St. If only we'd had heritage laws then, we could have kept the exceptionally fine, coherent and contiguous Victorian streetscape that was once this entire block from William to here, and built to...wers BEHIND them. Qv much of the Nth side of BOURKE St between Spencer & King today. https://bit.ly/2YZNGoj See more

02.01.2022 Elizabeth St #Melbourne, looking south towards Lt Bourke, c.1890. Leftmost buildings demolished for Myer Tower and associated shopping complex, 1970s. http://bit.ly/2NFxfsl

02.01.2022 Looking West from the main clock tower of Flinders St Station, #Melbourne in 1938, showing railway viaduct and former Fish Markets (demolished 1950s). http://bit.ly/33nOAeT

02.01.2022 Flinders Lane #Melbourne, north side, looking east towards Swanston c.1972 with Liecester House, built 1888 (architect T J Crouch) and to its R is the Australian (APA) Building, once Melbourne's tallest, demolished 1980 for awful low rise offices. http://bit.ly/2NjVb4q

02.01.2022 Collins St #Melbourne, south side, Exhibition St to L of image, 1895, featuring "Camelot", home of surgeon Dr. J. W. Springthorpe, who retained it for many years as a virtual shrine to his wife who died there in childbirth in 1897. Replaced by Athenaeum Club in 1929.

02.01.2022 Aerial photo of Swanston St #Melbourne, looking south over Lonsdale St in 1954. On L at far side of Bourke is the Royal Mail Hotel (demolished 1960s), and on near side of Lt Collins is Town Hall Chambers (demolished 1968)

01.01.2022 Apologies, folks, resolution was bad on the earlier post. I've had it touched up probably about as good as it will go, let's try AGAIN ... Collins St, looking west from Queen to Market Sts in 1856. The tall pointy roof at middle of image is a VERY RARE glimpse of the first Melbourne Club at Market St, erected on the site of what was apparently a timber yard for John Pascoe Fawkner from 1837 until this building's construction around 1839. ... It was renamed the Shakespeare Hotel after the Club moved further up Collins St c.1846, and demolished 1862 for Commercial & Family (later Union Club) Hotel, in turn demolished 1929 for AMP HQ, which stands here protected to this day. https://bit.ly/2MGSoVL