Snapshots - Kyneton

Cast iron verandah on Mollison St.

I stopped in Kyneton briefly on Saturday. I don't think I had ever been there before, as far as I can remember. There are some lovely old buildings, particularly on Piper St.

The Mechanics Institute, built in 1858 to a design by William Douglas.

The old flour mill on Piper St, now a curry house and wine bar.

Snapshots - Kyneton

Roses and wire fences

I saw this garden in Daylesford. The bright colour of the roses stood out against the dry brown grass and the plain wire fence. There was something very suburban summer about it all. I often find roses an odd choice for front and centre in a garden as they spend so much of the year looking like spiky sticks. They are beautiful when they come out though, so maybe it's all worth it.


Also if you have a love for ogling other people's gardens you must visit Faux Fuchsia's blog and see the FF garden.

Roses and wire fences

Daylesford Snapshot

Summer in Daylesford. Flowers everywhere. This weatherboard house caught my eye, the blue almost matched the sky, the rust red roof, even the old grey wooden fence somehow balances the view.

Daylesford Snapshot

Demolition has begun on Lonsdale House and Caldeonian Lane

I was deeply saddened yesterday to walk past Caledonian Lane and find it blocked off. Pieces were being hacked off the buildings in Caledonian Lane. For now the façade of Lonsdale House is intact but for how long I don't know. Sources suggest that scaffolding will soon be erected.


A protest is planned for tonight at 6pm.

The demolition of Lonsdale House and Caledonian Lane has begun.

Protest this evening (Friday 15th January) at 6pm.

Come to Lonsdale House this evening and show your anger at Myer, the State Government and the City of Melbourne for allowing the destruction of our architectural heritage.

Please bring friends and pass this message along, we need as many people as possible.

Demolition has begun on Lonsdale House and Caldeonian Lane

Snapshot, Fitzroy

Fitzroy Town Hall by night. It didn't actually have such an eerie, green, 'underwater' appearance, but I like the effect. This is one of my favourite buildings at the moment. I often walk down Napier St to a friend's place and pretty much always stop to look at it, even at about 1:15 in the morning when I took this photo. I love the elegance of the slender clock tower. And the sculptural quality and 'plasticity' that comes from all the layered columns and pilasters.

Snapshot, Fitzroy

Snapshot, Melbourne

Interior of the lift at the Athenaeum Library in Collins St.

Snapshot, Melbourne

View from above

View from the 124th floor of the newly opened Burj Dubai (from The Guardian).

View from above

St Kilda snapshot

Monument to Councillor Edward O'Donnell, St Kilda.


Here is a notice from The Argus, 15 February 1934, p.8 (from the NLA via the new search engine Trove), which calls for public subscriptions to help erect the monument.

Click to enlarge.

St Kilda snapshot

Mid 20th century flats in East Melbourne

These flats are on Simpson St in East Melbourne. I liked the similar but different look of each section. I asked my friends at the ever helpful Walking Melbourne forum and got the suggestion that the flats represent three different periods, possibly c.1939 for the block on the far right, c. 1945 for the left and c. 1960s in the middle. My favourite is the late 1930s section with the rounded concrete and slit windows.

c.1939

c. 1945

c. 1960s

Mid 20th century flats in East Melbourne

Parco Ducale, Parma

Once again I am quite snowed under, though not literally considering it was 40 degrees celsius yesterday, just with work and deadlines and something called Christmas. But I found these photos I took of the Parco Ducale in Parma back in early 2005. As you can see it is winter and the park has a misty beauty, typical of the region. The garden dates back to the sixteenth century, it was largely altered in the mid-eighteenth century by the French artist and architect Ennemond Alaxandre Petitot and most of the sculpture dates to this period.

The 'ruined' temple of Arcadia. This was designed by Petitot for the wedding of Ferdinando, son of the Don Filippo of Borbone. It was used as a setting for plays and poetry readings.

The sculpture of drunken Silenus fondling nymphs, by Jean-Baptiste Boudard.


More sculptures by Boudard, many of these have been replaced by exact copies and the originals placed in museums.


The Ducal Palace, this was remodelled in the sixteenth century by the duke Ottavio Farnese.

Parco Ducale, Parma