Historic Photo of the Day

[Mornnb]

Originally Posted by Inego

Is MLC better?

I think so, the best heritage buildings on Martin Place are still there, and MLC is an exceptional building and a worthy replacement for Australia Hotel.

[mobus]

image hosted on flickr

Plenty of overhead wires...... by Bingley Hall, on Flickr

Adelaide in 1989 from Hindmarsh.

[Inego]

Originally Posted by Mornnb

I think so, the best heritage buildings on Martin Place are still there, and MLC is an exceptional building and a worthy replacement for Australia Hotel.

I don't really disagree - I am a bit of a Seidler, or at least modernist, fan. It's just a pity we lost the city's two grandest 19th/early 20thC hotels, but it's a price for progress.

[CULWULLA]

they really could have left Hotel Austraila and CTA.
ive edited in site plan for hotel Australia and CTA
i remember Rowe st running along south face of Hotel Australia.

image hosted on flickr

[Mornnb]

Wow, so we could have had MLC and Austrakia Hotel, what a total waste!

[CULWULLA]

same goes with former T&G Tower on hyde park square site.

[CULWULLA]

photographer George Bell climbed the newly built 200ft stack of Electric light co at the rocks and took this pano (july 1904)

[CULWULLA]

incredible pic from george st 1899. horse drawn tram towers erectors
image hosted on flickr

[CULWULLA]

Dept of lands 1900
image hosted on flickr

[Bronteboy]

Wonderful photo, Gas and Fuel etc, by Wolfgang Sievers, taken in 1967:sorry for misspelling of his name in the heading.

http://www.cv.vic.gov.au/data/7023/pi003280.jpg

[Bronteboy]

appeared here:
http://www.sauer-thompson.com/junkfo...hives/2011/10/

[Mornnb]

What the, what two office buildings are those, were they destroyed to build Federation Square?

[Bronteboy]

Originally Posted by Mornnb

What the, what two office buildings are those, were they destroyed to build Federation Square?

They were the brownbrick Gas and Fuel Corporation buildings on Flinders Street, very famous, or infamous, as a blight on the face of the city.

Demolished 1997 - had a small bleak and largely unused public plaza beside them that preceded Federation Square

http://www.walkingmelbourne.com/buil...on-towers.html


from another website:

Les Perrott, the architect of the Gas and Fuel Buildings in the ’60s, who also designed Rialto Tower, the Hilton Hotel and Nauru House, publicly praised Federation Square before his death soon after it opened.

[CULWULLA]

they were discusting bldgs gas and fuel./ barry crrocker

[skymantle]

they were shite, more Le Corbusier inspired merde. Good riddance!!

[Dimethyltryptamine]

South Brisbane Town Hall

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hwmobs/...240352688@N01/

[CULWULLA]

lovely brickwork in sbth.

[sbx]

A big part of me wishes we never built any modernist/skyscraper junk in the first place.. They've utterly ruined many sectors of our cities..

We'd have been much better off having built only a handful of high quality skyscrapers in one area and leave the rest low-rise - preserving the soul of our cities with these beautiful buildings.

Sad but beautiful thread. I know this is a skyscraper forum, but I wish the city hadn't changed. Could easily have done what Paris has for e.g.

[Mornnb]

I really don't like the Paris/London approach, you get a far more diverse and intriguing street scape with a mix of heritage and modern highrise.
Another issue is that high rise areas that are built entirely from scratch, tend to be soulless, even if they include residential developments. You can't just design a good urban environment it needs to grow slowly and naturally.

[Dimethyltryptamine]

Early 1900s - Port Melbourne

image hosted on flickr

Early 1900s: a great occasion at Port Melbourne, but which is it? - A.C. Green [1878-1954], SLV. by Kookaburra2011, on Flickr