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.

MALDON

Maldon is a town in Victoria, Australia, in the Shire of Mount Alexander local government area. It has been designated "Australia's first notable town" and is notable for its 19th-century appearance, maintained since gold-rush days. At the 2021 census, Maldon had a population of 1,665.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday 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.

MELBOURNE EXHIBITION BUILDING

Originally designed for the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880, the Exhibition buildings and the surrounding Carlton Gardens are now World Heritage listed. The Royal Exhibition Building is Australia's only World Heritage listed building. Completed in 1880 for Melbourne's first International Exhibition, it was the site of Australia's first Federal Parliament in 1901. With its meticulously restored interior, expansive galleries and soaring dome, it continues to offer a magnificent setting for trade shows, fairs and cultural events.

The Exhibition Fountain by Josef Hochgurtel is of Portland cement built in 1880. Josef Hochgurtel was born in Cologne, Germany, and trained under Herr Fuels, who modelled the Cologne Cathedral. In creating the Exhibition Fountain, he was assisted by August Saupe, who had worked on similar pieces in Berlin, Dresden and Copenhagen. The colossal fountain stands some 10 metres high on the south side of the Royal Exhibition Building, outside the Great Hall. It was constructed for the first of Melbourne’s two grand international world fairs. The fountain’s visual elements were designed to display the young colony’s confidence and advancement, simultaneously signalling the purpose of world fairs to display the produce and industry of nations.

Here it is hosting the Affordable Art Fair held in Melbourne recently.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme

IN PRAHRAN

Chapel Street is straight and runs for over 4.14 kilometres along an approximate north-south alignment from the Yarra River in the north to Brighton Road in the south, traversing the south east suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran, Windsor, St Kilda and St Kilda East. Major street crossings are Alexandra Avenue, Toorak Road, Commercial Road, High Street, Dandenong Road, Alma Road, Inkerman Street and Carlisle Street. Tram route 78 travels along the entire length of Chapel Street, between Richmond and St Kilda. The Sandringham line railway stations of South Yarra, Prahran, Windsor and Balaclava are all within 300 metres of Chapel Street.

Prahran takes its name from Pur-ra-ran, a Boonwurrung Aboriginal word which was thought to mean "land partially surrounded by water". When naming began the suburbs spelling was intended to be Praharan and pronounced Pur-ra-ran, but a spelling mistake on a government form lead to the name Prahran.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

ROYAL EXHIBITION BUILDING

Inside the Victorian Royal Exhibition Buildings, a classified World Heritage Site. This was during the recent Affordable Art Fair of Melbourne.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

IN KENSINGTON

Kensington is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. Kensington recorded a population of 10,745 at the 2021 census.

Kensington is known for its village feel, cafes, and diversity of architecture - including Victorian terraces, cottages, warehouse apartments and new structures in the west of the suburb. The suburb is hilly in sections and contains established tree lined streets.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

COME IN...

Victorian Mansion in Port Melbourne. This beauty is 131 years old!

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

VICTORIAN MANSION

The discovery of gold in Victoria in 1851 led to the Victorian gold rush, and Melbourne grew rapidly. By 1865, Melbourne had overtaken Sydney as Australia's most populous city. This economic boom peaked during the 1880's and Melbourne had become the richest city in the world.

The city entered the "Marvellous Melbourne" boom period, transforming into one of the most important cities in the British Empire and one of the largest and wealthiest in the world. English architects flocked to Melbourne, looking for an opportunity to show their skills (and make their fortune).

The late 1800s saw the introduction of several grand English-inspired mansions, particularly in East Melbourne, Fitzroy, St Kilda, Kew, Hawthorn and Albert Park. Many of these mansions have survived in Melbourne, and some have become museums, others have been acquired and restored for special purposes, while many are still private residences. Heritage overlays protect these buildings and ensure they are preserved for the future.

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

STREET ART

A very special painted fence in the Melbourne suburb of Thornbury. The mansion in the background is a grand old Victorian home that dominates the hill.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

ROYAL EXHIBITION BUILDING

The Royal Exhibition Building is a World Heritage Site-listed building in Melbourne, Australia, completed in 1880. It is located at 9 Nicholson Street in the Carlton Gardens, flanked by Victoria, Carlton and Rathdowne Streets, at the north-eastern edge of the central business district. It was built to host the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880–81 and later hosted (in the Western annex) the opening of the first Parliament of Australia in 1901.

Throughout the 20th century smaller sections and wings of the building were subject to demolition and fire; however, the main building, known as the Great Hall, survived. It received restoration throughout the 1990s and in 2004 became the first building in Australia to be awarded UNESCO World Heritage status, being one of the last remaining major 19th-century exhibition buildings in the world. It is the world's most complete surviving site from the International Exhibition movement 1851–1914.

It sits adjacent to the Melbourne Museum and is the largest item in Museum Victoria's collection. Today, the building hosts various exhibitions and other events and is closely tied with events at the Melbourne Museum. This view is taken from a window high up the St Vincent's Hospital.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

ROYAL ARCADE

A delightful place in Melbourne is the Royal Arcade, which since 1869, has acted as a hub between Melbourne's, Bourke St Mall, Little Collins Street and Elizabeth Street; The Royal Arcade houses some of the most well-known and beautiful shops in Melbourne. One of the most striking features of the arcade is Gaunt's Clock which is flanked by two giant statues of the mythical figures of Gog and Magog. Since its implementation in 1892, the two mammoth statues have struck chimes at every hour, and can be heard resounding throughout the arcade. The clock and statues provide endless fascination for this young chap!

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

MELBOURNE TOWN HALL

Melbourne is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in Australia and Oceania. The name “Melbourne” covers an urban agglomeration spanning 9,992.5 km2, which comprises the broader metropolitan area, as well as being the common name for its city centre. The metropolis is located on the large natural bay of Port Phillip and expands into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon mountain ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley.

Melbourne consists of 31 municipalities. It has a population of 4,725,316 as of 2016, and its inhabitants are called Melburnians. Founded by free settlers from the British Crown colony of Van Diemen’s Land on 30 August 1835, in what was then the colony of New South Wales, it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837. It was named “Melbourne” by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne.

It was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria, to whom Lord Melbourne was close, in 1847, after which it became the capital of the newly founded colony of Victoria in 1851. During the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the world’s largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it served as the nation’s interim seat of government until 1927. Additionally, it was the host city of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Melbourne rates highly in education, entertainment, health care, research and development, tourism and sport, making it the world’s most liveable city (for the seventh year in a row in 2017), according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. It is a leading financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region, and ranks among the top 15 cities in the world in the Global Financial Centres Index.

Referred to as Australia’s “cultural capital”, it is the birthplace of Australian impressionism, Australian rules football, the Australian film and television industries, and Australian contemporary dance. It is recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature and a major centre for street art, music and theatre. It is home to many of Australia’s largest and oldest cultural institutions such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the National Gallery of Victoria, the State Library of Victoria and the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Building.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday 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 My Sunday Best meme.

STH MELBOURNE TOWN HALL

South Melbourne Town Hall is a civic building located on Bank Street in South Melbourne, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. It is of state heritage significance to Victoria being listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

The Town Hall was built between 1879-80 to the design of noted Melbourne architect Charles Webb. It was built to house what was then known as the Emerald Hill Town Council, as well as a Public Hall, a Mechanics Institute and Library, the Post and Telegraph Department, the Police Department and Courthouse and Fire Brigade. In the 1930s some interior elements were refurbished and new council chamber furniture was installed, designed by Oakley and Parkes.

The Town Hall was built on an elevated site, the centrepiece of a formally planned block, with a forecourt in the form of a small curved park. It was built in the Victorian Academic Classical style with French Second Empire features, dominated by a very tall multi-stage clock tower. The building is on the Victorian Heritage Register, along with the park and the 1905 Boer War memorial in front. In 1994, the Cities of South Melbourne, Port Melbourne and St Kilda were amalgamated to form the new City of Port Phillip. The new council administration was centred at the St Kilda Town Hall, with only secondary offices retained at the South Melbourne Town Hall.

That same year, the Federal Government created the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), which became the main occupant of the building. ANAM is the national centre for the further development of musicians with outstanding talent in Australia, and the hall has become a concert venue. The building was restored in 2004 thanks to a state government heritage grant, enabling the reinstatement of the decorative roof and iron cresting (removed in 1945), and restoration of the original ochre exterior colour.

In 2012 Multicultural Arts Victoria, Victoria's peak arts organisation promoting cultural diversity in the arts, moved their home to the South Melbourne Town Hall. In 2018, a significant part of the internal roof collapsed and parts of the building were closed off for many months whilst significant construction works were carried out (earlier that year, substantial works were completed on updating the lift which broke down frequently).

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,

and also part of the Friday Photo Journal meme.

VICTORIAN ARCHITECTURE

Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. Victorian refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian were used in construction. However, many elements of what is typically termed "Victorian" architecture did not become popular until later in Victoria's reign. The styles often included interpretations and eclectic revivals of historic styles. The name represents the British and French custom of naming architectural styles for a reigning monarch. Within this naming and classification scheme, it followed Georgian architecture and later Regency architecture, and was succeeded by Edwardian architecture.

Ballarat is a city in the state of Victoria, Australia, approximately 105 kilometres west-north-west of the state capital Melbourne situated on the lower plains of the Great Dividing Range and the Yarrowee River catchment. It is the largest inland centre and third most populous city in the state and the fifth most populated inland city in Australia. The estimated urban area population is close to 100,000 inhabitants. It was named by Scottish settler Archibald Yuille who established the sheep run called Ballaarat in 1837 with the name derived from local Wathaurong Aboriginal words for the area, balla arat, thought to mean "resting place". The present spelling was officially adopted in 1996.

Ballarat is one of the most significant Victorian era boomtowns in Australia. Just months after Victoria was granted separation from New South Wales, the Victorian gold rush transformed Ballarat from a small sheep station to a major settlement. Gold was discovered at Poverty Point on 18 August 1851 and news quickly spread of rich alluvial fields where gold could easily be extracted. Within months, approximately 20,000 migrants had rushed the district. Unlike many other gold rush boom towns, the Ballarat fields experienced sustained yields.

Proclaimed a city in 1871, Ballarat's prosperity continued until late in the 19th century, after which its importance relative to both Melbourne and Geelong rapidly faded with the slowing of gold extraction. It has endured as a major regional centre hosting the rowing and kayaking events from the 1956 Summer Olympics. It is the commercial capital of the Central Highlands and the largest city in the Goldfields region of Victoria—a significant tourist destination. Ballarat is known for its history, culture and its well preserved Victorian era heritage.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,

and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

VICTORIAN TERRACES

Terraced houses in Australia refers almost exclusively to Victorian and Edwardian era terraced houses or replicas, almost always found in the older, inner city areas of the major cities, mainly Sydney and Melbourne. Terraced housing was introduced to Australia in the 19th century. Their architectural work was based on those in London and Paris, which had the style a century earlier. Large numbers of terraced houses were built in the inner suburbs of large Australian cities, particularly Sydney and Melbourne, mainly between the 1850s and the 1890s. The beginning of this period coincided with a population boom caused by the Victorian and New South Wales Gold Rushes of the 1850s and finished with an economic depression in the early 1890s. Detached housing became the popular style of housing in Australia following Federation in 1901.

The generic Melbourne style of terrace is distinguishable from other regional variations, often reflecting the popularity of Italianate villa architecture in the city.  Many Victorian era Melbourne terraces are built on foundations of bluestone, a solid and porous local rock quarried from the volcanic plains to the north and west of the city, although it is rare to find terraces completely constructed of the material due to the difficulty to mould it.  The majority of designers of Victorian terraces in Melbourne made an effort to deliberately hide roof elements with the use of a decorative parapet, often combined with the use balustrades above a subtle but clearly defined eave cornice and a frieze which was either plain or decorated with a row of brackets (and sometimes additional patterned bas-relief. Chimneys were often tall, visible above the parapet and elaborately Italianate in style.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,

and also part of the Through my Lens meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

MELBOURNE CITY BATHS

City Baths, in Melbourne, Australia, is a historically and architecturally significant building. Located at 420 Swanston Street, it is an instantly recognisable Melbourne landmark.The Melbourne City Council opened the first Melbourne City Baths on 9 January 1860, which housed public baths. The objective was to stop people from bathing in the Yarra River, which by the 1850s had become quite polluted and the cause of an epidemic of typhoid fever which hit the city resulting in many deaths. However, people continued to swim and drink the water.

The Baths were leased to a private operator, but lack of maintenance resulted in such deterioration of the building that the Baths were closed in 1899. New baths designed by John James Clark were opened on 23 March 1904. Strict separation of men and women was maintained, right down to separate street entrances. Two classes of facilities were maintained, with second class baths in the basement and first class baths on the main floor. The popularity of the swimming pool increased with the introduction of mixed bathing in 1947.

The Baths now house a swimming pool, spa, sauna, squash courts and a gymnasium. To cater for all types of swimmers, the swimming pool is divided into four lanes: an aqua play lane, a medium lane, a fast lane and a slow lane (or 'aquatic education', when swimming lessons are given).

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

MELBOURNE'S GRAND PAST...

The architecture of Melbourne is characterised by an extensive juxtaposition of old and new architecture. The city is noted for preserving a significant amount of Victorian architecture and has some of the largest in the country. Additionally, it features a vast array of modern architecture, with around 60 skyscrapers over 100 m in the city centre which have deliberately been set back from thoroughfares and streets to preserve historic architecture—leading to the title of "Australia's most European city".

The juxtaposition of old and new has given Melbourne a reputation as a city of no characterising architectural style, but rather a city possessing an accumulation of buildings dating from the present back until the European settlement of Australia. The city is also home to Eureka Tower (2006), which was the tallest residential tower when measured to its highest floor for some time. Here are some Victorian gems, landmarks of our city.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

Como House, South Yarra 1840s

Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton, 1880 (World Heritage Site)

Melbourne General Post Office, begun 1859

Melbourne Town Hall, 1870, and St Paul's Cathedral, 1891

Melbournia Terrace, Carlton, 1876

Victorian Parliament House, 1855

Royal Terrace, Sth Yarra, 1890

St Patrick's Cathedral, begun 1858

BALLARAT

Ballarat is a city in the state of Victoria, Australia, approximately 105 kilometres west-north-west of the state capital Melbourne situated on the lower plains of the Great Dividing Range and the Yarrowee River catchment. It is the largest inland centre and third most populous city in the state and the fifth most populated inland city in Australia. The estimated urban area population is close to 100,000 inhabitants. It was named by Scottish settler Archibald Yuille who established the sheep run called Ballaarat in 1837 with the name derived from local Wathaurong Aboriginal words for the area, balla arat, thought to mean "resting place". The present spelling was officially adopted in 1996.

It is one of the most significant Victorian era boomtowns in Australia. Just months after Victoria was granted separation from New South Wales, the Victorian gold rush transformed Ballarat from a small sheep station to a major settlement. Gold was discovered at Poverty Point on 18 August 1851 and news quickly spread of rich alluvial fields where gold could easily be extracted. Within months, approximately 20,000 migrants had rushed the district. Unlike many other gold rush boom towns, the Ballarat fields experienced sustained yields.

Ballarat was the site of the Eureka Rebellion, the only armed civil uprising in Australian history, which took place on 3 December 1854 at the Eureka Mining Lead, and the event is controversially identified with the birth of democracy in Australia. Many significant Australian cultural icons are also a legacy of Ballarat's gold rush boom. The rebellion's symbol, the Eureka Flag has become a national symbol and is held at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Australia's oldest and largest regional gallery.

Other nationally significant heritage structures include the Ballarat Botanical Gardens, established 1857, the best example of a regional botanic gardens in Australia with the greatest concentration of public statuary including the official Prime Ministers Avenue; the longest running lyric theatre building, Her Majesty's, established 1875; the first municipal observatory, established 1886; and the earliest and longest memorial avenue, the Avenue of Honour, established between 1917 and 1919. Several Australian mining innovations were made at the Ballarat diggings including the first use of a Chilean mill in 1851 and the first use of a safety cage in 1861.

Proclaimed a city in 1871, its prosperity continued until late in the 19th century, after which its importance relative to both Melbourne and Geelong rapidly faded with the slowing of gold extraction. It has endured as a major regional centre hosting the rowing and kayaking events from the 1956 Summer Olympics. It is the commercial capital of the Central Highlands and the largest city in the Goldfields region of Victoria—a significant tourist destination. Ballarat is known for its history, culture and its well preserved Victorian era heritage.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.