INNER SUBURBIA

Johnston St looking east in Abbotsford. One of the older Melbourne suburbs, typical working class in the 19th century. Abbotsford now has a mix of industrial architecture and green spaces, and is popular with both families and creative types. Converted factories, hip cafes and cool bars line Johnston Street, while Abbotsford Convent hosts artsy workshops and is home to markets, cafes and artists’ studios.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

BRUNSWICK STREET

Brunswick Street is a street in inner northern Melbourne, known for cafés, live music venues and alternative fashion shops. Brunswick Street runs north–south through the inner northern Melbourne suburbs of Fitzroy and Fitzroy North, from Victoria Parade at its southernmost end, crossing Gertrude Street and Alexandra Parade through Fitzroy, and north continuing until it reaches St Georges Road in Fitzroy North, near the Edinburgh Gardens. Tram route 11 (West Preston to Victoria Harbour) runs along the entire length of Brunswick Street.

It is a renowned bohemian strip and a premier destination for vibrant nightlife, eclectic fashion boutiques, vintage shopping, and diverse, often casual dining. It features iconic pubs, live music venues, street art, and a bustling café culture. Many fine Victorian era buildings ar e lined along its length. Landmarks include the Atherton Gardens housing estate, St Vincent's Private Hospital, and the Australian Catholic University.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

NORTHCOTE THEATRE

Built on the corner of High Street and Bastings Street in June 1912 by the Northcote Picture Theatre Company, it was opened on 27 June 1912  by Robert McLeish who remained its general manager while he became as well, the President of the Cinematograph Exhibitors' Association and Chairman of the Hoyts Victorian Executive.

It was designed by local architect, Edward Twentyman, jnr. and remains perhaps the earliest surviving picture theatre designed in Victoria. It possessed a balcony, stalls, its own electricity generator and a stage which was adaptable for vaudeville. It was the first building to be lighted by electricity. Amalgamated Pictures Ltd supplied the theatre with its silent cinema and the Northcote Mayoral ball was held there in late 1912.

It later became part of the Hoyts' chain of cinemas. While it was operating as a cinema, it was used as the setting for the film 'Night Club' in 1952. The cinema closed in 1960. Having been used as a dance studio, it is now used as a Reception Centre, and was used as a pilot for Darebin Council's façade restoration program in 1996. It had been extensively restored inside by the owners and refurbishments strictly considered original character.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

KEW BOATHOUSE

Historic Studley Park Boathouse, Kew, is only 10 minutes from the city centre and offers visitors the opportunity to dine in the restaurant, relax over a lighter meal in the indoor/outdoor café, or have a light snack from the kiosk while enjoying sweeping views of the Yarra River and natural bushland. You can also hire row boats, canoes and kayaks from the oldest operating boathouse in Australia. Open every day of the year except Christmas Day. Kids love the place as there are activities, animals and wide open spaces to play in.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

and also part of the Roentare’s Water Meme

BRUNSWICK TOWN HALL

Brunswick was declared a municipality in 1857, after residents petitioned for municipal government. The first municipal chambers were erected in 1859 on Sydney Road at Lobb's Hill, between Stewart and Albion streets. The present Town Hall began with the construction of what is now the central section in 1877, designed in Renaissance Revival style by Evander McIvor, consisting of three bays, with arched windows, rustication at the ground level, and paired pilasters above.

In 1888 a competition was held for a new structure, won by architect Sydney H Wilson, with a very grand scheme with a central clocktower, similar in style and elaboration to the just completed Collingwood Town Hall. The project however did not proceed, and instead an addition to the north in matching style was built in 1908, the same year Brunswick became a City.

In 1926 it was decided to finally complete the building, and include a smaller and larger hall, as well as offices for the Council. Sydney H Wilson was again the architect, along with Charles R Heath. The design incorporated the 1908 wing, with new sections to the south matching in detail, as part of an imposing building in Victorian Second Empire style, with a taller central section, mansard roofs, and a porte-cochere. The completed building, without the planned finials and cresting, opened in August 1927 with a 'brilliant spectacle'.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

SHOPPING MALL

At the Victoria Gardens Shopping Centre.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

MELBOURNE IMMIGRATION MUSEUM

The Immigration Museum focuses on Melbourne and Victoria’s immigration history. First opened in 1998 as a division of Museums Victoria, Immigration Museum is located at the restored Old Customs House Building on Flinders Street in Melbourne, Victoria.

The architects of Customs House were Peter Kerr, with additional input by J.J. Clark and Arthur Ebden Johnson. Constructed between 1855 and 1876, its creation was a reflection of vastly expanded trade and soaring revenue from the goldrush, resulting in one of Melbourne's grand buildings. The museum's most important space, the Long Room, is a notable piece of Renaissance Revival architecture. The site was listed in 1948 as one of the key sites for the modernisation of Melbourne. An 11 storey £750,000 Customs House office tower was proposed, which however, did not proceed.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

REMEMBRANCE DAY AT THE SHRINE

Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, at 5:45 am for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at 11:00 am—the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918—although, according to Thomas R. Gowenlock, an intelligence officer with the U.S. First Division, shelling from both sides continued for the rest of the day, ending only at nightfall. The armistice initially expired after a period of 36 days and had to be extended several times. A formal peace agreement was reached only when the Treaty of Versailles was signed the following year.

The Shrine of Remembrance (commonly referred to as 'The Shrine') is a war memorial in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located in Kings Domain on St Kilda Road. It was built to honour the men and women of Victoria who served in World War I, but now functions as a memorial to all Australians who have served in any war. It is a site of annual observances for Anzac Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November), and is one of the largest war memorials in Australia.

Designed by architects Phillip Hudson and James Wardrop, both World War I veterans, the Shrine is in classical style, based on the Tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus and the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The crowning element at the top of the ziggurat roof references the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates. Built from Tynong granite, the Shrine originally consisted only of the central sanctuary surrounded by the ambulatory. The sanctuary contains the marble Stone of Remembrance, upon which is engraved the words "Greater love hath no man" (John 15:13); once per year, on 11 November at 11 a.m. (Remembrance Day), a ray of sunlight shines through an aperture in the roof to light up the word "Love" in the inscription. Beneath the sanctuary lies the crypt, which contains a bronze statue of a soldier father and son, and panels listing every unit of the Australian Imperial Force.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

HOSPITAL

The bottlebrush flowers soften the rather harsh architecture of the utilitarian Austin Hospital and somehow give some hope to all who enter there... 

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

YESTERYEAR

A lovely period home in Heidelberg, a Melbourne suburb with much green space and beautiful homes.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

MELBOURNE MUSEUM

The Melbourne Museum is a natural and cultural history museum located in the Carlton Gardens in Melbourne, Australia. Located adjacent to the Royal Exhibition Building, the museum was opened in 2000 as a project of the Government of Victoria, on behalf of Museums Victoria which administers the venue. The museum won Best Tourist Attraction at the Australian Tourism Awards in 2011.

The last few days of Winter here in Melbourne have been windy, cold and wet, so museums, libraries and art galleries are definitely the places to be!

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

DONCASTER PUBLIC LIBRARY

A beautiful library and gallery in Doncaster, an outer suburb of Melbourne. This library is part of the Whitehorse Manningham Libraries group, which services several neighbouring suburbs.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

PREMIER TOWER

Premier Tower is a mixed-use skyscraper on the corner of Bourke and Spencer Streets, in Melbourne, Australia. Designed by Elenberg Fraser, plans for a 294-metre tall building with 90-storeys were initially proposed in 2014; however, in order not to cast a shadow on the Yarra River to the south, both the height and the number of levels of the project were reduced in later plans, which were submitted to the Department of Planning.

In May 2015, Planning Minister Richard Wynne approved the development, which now consists of a 246–metre high residential and hotel skyscraper of 78 levels. When built, Premier Tower was to become one of the tallest buildings in Melbourne.

According to Elenberg Fraser, the design of the building pays homage to Beyoncé's fabric-draped silhouette in the music video for her 2013 song "Ghost", which captured the curves of the human form. Early construction on the project commenced in January 2017. The skyscraper is developed by the Fragrance Group Limited at a development cost of AUD$430 million.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

MELBOURNE CENTRAL

Melbourne Central is a large shopping centre, office, and public transport hub in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The main tower is 211-metre high, making it one of the tallest buildings in Melbourne at the time it was built in 1991. Other parts of the complex include the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, the underground Melbourne Central railway station and the heritage-listed Coop's Shot Tower, now part of a shop and museum.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

STATE LIBRARY VICTORIA

State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the world. It is also Australia's busiest public library and, as of 2023, the third busiest library globally.

The library's first stage (the central part of the Swanston Street wing) opened on 11 February 1856, with a collection of 3,800 books chosen by Mr Justice Barry, the President of Trustees. The library has remained on the same site in the central business district since it was established fronting Swanston Street, and over time has expanded to cover a block bounded also by La Trobe, Russell, and Little Lonsdale streets.

The library's collection consists of over five million items, which in addition to books includes manuscripts, paintings, maps, photographs and newspapers, with a special focus on material from Victoria, including the diaries of the European founders of present-day Melbourne John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, the folios of colonial explorer James Cook, and items related to Ned Kelly, notably his armour and the original Jerilderie Letter.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

MONTSALVAT

Montsalvat is an artists' colony in Melbourne's Northeaster outer suburb, Eltham, established in 1934, and home to over a dozen buildings set amongst verdant established gardens. The colony of Montsalvat has a detailed history that reflects the life of Justus Jörgensen and his friends and family. Its buildings and gardens are steeped in the art and culture of Melbourne and its surroundings.

Architecturally Montsalvat has much in common with a simple French village in Provence, with a mix of rustic architectural styles. Justus Jörgensen was an architect and as a former student of Max Meldrum had spent many happy hours painting around Eltham. In 1934 Jörgensen purchased land and with his friends and students commenced the buildings that became Montsalvat, 26kms from Melbourne.

The grounds and buildings are currently used for exhibitions, performances, conferences, seminars, weddings and receptions; however, artists working in a variety of mediums continue to reside in Montsalvat. Several classes on various disciplines of art are offered year round by the resident artists. Today Montsalvat is a popular tourist attraction and the entire complex is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

VICTORIANA

Melbourne's rich architectural heritage from the Victorian era can still be found in some pockets of the City and suburbs. Such heritage is in real danger of encroachment and destruction by new building developments that are choking our once beautiful city. Enjoy while we still can...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

THE WAY OF PROGRESS...

At Bridge Rd, Richmond, a "new" tram wheels down the road and Victorian brick shops look on, surprised at nothing anymore, ever since they were dwarfed by the utilitarian apartment buildings behind them.

 

"We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive." - C. S. Lewis

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

"CESTRIA" MANSION

"Cestria" is a Victorian mansion in Hawthorn, is one of the first and arguably the greatest American Romanesque Revival houses in Australia. It is of architectural significance for the survival of many interior features, especially the woodwork of the entrance/stair hall with its mahogany and American walnut staircase. The large west dining-room is also substantially intact with wallpapers and decoration from the time of the first owner.

"Cestria" was built for the wealthy biscuit manufacturer Thomas B Guest in 1891. Architect EG Kilburn of the partnership Ellerker and Kilburn signed the drawings. Kilburn had recently visited America, and the buildings he saw during his stay undoubtedly influenced the final design. "Cestria" followed close on the heels of Kilburn's American Romanesque design for an extension at the Priory Ladies School, St Kilda, which was finished in July 1890.

"Cestria" is architecturally significant as the greatest domestic example of the American Romanesque style of architecture in Victoria. Cestria is particularly significant as a reaction against the prevailing popularity of the Italianate style, which was characterised by cement rendered walls, parapets teetering with urns and other decorative features, and by cast iron. Cestria is significant for the part it played in the debate about an appropriate national style of architecture. It was hailed in contemporary building journals as being eminently suited to the Australian climate. The emergence of the American Romanesque and other red brick styles was central to the question of adapting an existing style to Australian requirements rather than creating a new one.

"Cestria" is located in a neighbourhood which contains a number of outstanding examples of Victorian and early Federation-style villas, combined with a series of well-designed and visually striking interwar houses and flats. Anchored by the visually prominent boulevard-like stretch of Glenferrie Road climbing past Scotch College, the place is representative of the changing patterns of development from the second half of the nineteenth century through to the interwar period.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme.

SPENCER ST

The West End of the City, looking up Spencer St. The old whitish building on the southeast corner of Spencer and Flinders Streets in Melbourne is the Sir Charles Hotham Hotel, also known as the Hotham Hotel. It is a historic hotel, originally built in 1855. The hotel has been a hotel since the 1850s and has Edwardian Baroque style architecture and Art Nouveau features. The site is listed on the Victorian Heritage Inventory for its potential to contain historical archaeological remains.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme