A scandalous building disaster

I remember when this building was constructed and I didn't like it much. The developer breached the height limit by over one metre above what was shown in the plans and was fined a small amount with the appropriate government minister Robert McClelland quite untroubled. He was a  shocker of old school arrogant conservative politician. Shame on him, and he is still alive at the age of 91.This was at the time when evil Victorian Premier Kennet in the 1990s had privatised building inspectors roles, and it was signed off as ok, even though it clearly wasn't.

It is in a very dominant location at the corner of Commercial Road and Punt Road, South Yarra, and is called South Yarra Square.

I don't know of any other similar building in greater Melbourne being as bad as this. I feel so bad for the innocent and naive who may have bought into this building, and the original buyers. The apartments are clearly unsaleable, with them being only good for tenants, if tenants don't mind the fire risk and the risk of building collapse. The next time you hear anything about deregulation of  building inspections, be afraid.

From the blog of Rohan Storey.

My photos, taken very quickly between trams.

Crass commercialism

I've showed Federation Square before, but something stimulated me to again take photos. Some people like me took time to like the space. Some continue to hate it, but generally, it has been embraced. Even Hels after some period of doubt, came to like it. 

Earlier this year, advertising and mammon overcame style and part of one of the lovely aspects of the square was spoilt. I think the ad was removed before its expiry period by way of public outrage.

I got out and took some pics.

The atrium is lovely, with all the special shapes.

I like the quirky exterior.

The small cobble stone  colours are so beautiful, as paving goes. They are a bitch for prams, wheelchairs, and the feeble.

 

Aside from the forecourt. the rest of Fed Square is friendly to the less abled.

I've seen the space filled with hundreds of people at times.

I love these shapes. 

The design of the whole square  is so interesting.

But then the outrage happened, a covering up of an aspect of the building by crass and huge advertising. I think it was contracted to be there for two months, but the public outcry saw it quickly removed. 

Missing a tram

My intention was to catch the number 12 tram to South Melbourne. I had just missed one and the next scheduled was about ten minutes later. I walked along a side street to the next tram stop, instead of just waiting. It was quite rewarding. 

From a distance, the exterior of these two houses in this photo looked like painted bluestone. Much of inner Melbourne is built in bluestone, including many, many cobbled lanes. What we call bluestone is basalt rock, or lava rock if you like, formed many thousands of years ago when Australia had active volcanoes. It is a very strong and tough rock.

But hey, this is fake bluestone. It's just a facing material that looks like bluestone...not very much upon closer inspection. Frankly, the houses looked ridiculous. 

Modern housing is nicely integrated into older housing streets. 

It appears ivy has been let to get out of control. Never let your Ivy roam freely. She will get into to trouble and cause you trouble. 

Not a complete plant takeover, but getting close. What a huge home for some rich ****er. 

Illoura

From the book A City Lost and Found: Whelan the Wrecker, one of the workers was quoted, and I paraphrase, 'The only building I really felt sad about destroying was Illoura'. Many of us are sad decades after the deed was done, 1964 being the year of demolition. 

The original Illoura. How could they!

A year or so after demolition, this abomination appeared. I took this photo mid twenty noughties. 

At some point it received a repaint, this being half way through the job. It certainly looked better in my opinion. And the new building Lucient beside it, replacing a three storey flat block, of no great merit. 

A few years ago there was a failed redevelopment plan. The painting as above became faded and dull. A few weeks ago mini diggers appeared on the roof and some works were happening. This week hoardings went up around the building. She is coming down. After a check, this is an artist's impression of what will replace the present Illoura Plaza. There wasn't a mention of a name for the new building. Exciting? Not at all. Boring as batshit. 

Icelandic architecture

What do you know about Iceland? I don't know much. It's cold but not as cold as Greenland. It has volcanoes. Over the years, I have learnt a little about Iceland from bloggers. 

Yorkshire blogger Tasker walked in Iceland in his younger years. https://taskerdunham.blogspot.com/2021/07/walking-in-iceland-1-to-reykjavik.html

Travel Penguin in Washington has visited twice, and would like to revisit. https://travelpenguin.blogspot.com/2025/07/foodie-friday-what-i-learned-in-iceland.html

Most recently the country was visited by Jackie and John from Toronto, and while Jackie's account of the trip and photos were marvellous, this photo really grabbed me. 

Hallgrimskirkja Church in Reykjavik is an absolutely stunning piece of modern architecture. You can see more of Jackie's inside and outside photos at https://junkboattravels.blogspot.com/2025/06/iceland-day-3-reykjavik.html I urge you to take a look. 

The backside

Sorry for the click bait headline. No I'm not. It was deliberate. 

With my neighbour HH at my suggestion, we took a paid back stage tour of our Arts Centre, which includes Hamer Hall and the larger building without a name, known as the Arts Centre. It needs a proper name. Before Hamer Hall was named thus, it was the Concert Hall. 

The tour, hosted by staff, one at the front talking and one at the rear to make sure we didn't wander away into the bowels of the earth, did not start well. Later HH and I agreed we were worried because she was hard to hear as she introduced herself inside Hamer Hall.

We walked outside and paused to hear her talk about the Arts Centre Spire, and she was marvellous, with her voice well projected and very easy to hear. 

Some of what I heard during the tour I already knew, especially about the construction difficulties but there were things I did not know and were very interesting. 

There is an excellent book called 'The Place Across the River', which covers the totality of the Arts Centre area and the history of what was formerly there. 

I've always enjoyed such tours of buildings and places, and this was no exception and well worth taking. We were given a a coffee voucher to use at one of the Arts Centre food venues, so HH and I had lunch, but I forgot to use my voucher. I can use it any time in the future. 

HH is a good talker and the time passed quickly. She turns 80 this year, but she won't tell me the date. Every second Friday she volunteers at the tourist Melbourne Information Centre. She is socially quite busy and has quite a large family who all live a long way away. Her son was a famous rugby...union? player and her daughter is a high achieving business woman, with a social conscience, and has received awards for her charitable works. Lol, HH says her daughter is so smart, she is scared of her. 

Anyway, here are a few photos I snapped.

I've forgotten about this painting, so I Guggled it and who would have thought? Up popped a photo I had taken of the same painting a number of years ago when we attended a concert. There are more of my photos there, I assume lifted from my blog. I didn't easily find out about the painting, so I gave up. I don't mind my photos being used but I should receive a credit for them at least. Marcus Wong wrote a very interesting post about the use of his photos and those of others, and how they brought down the company who stole their photos to use. 

https://wongm.com/2025/04/taking-down-a-profiteering-photo-thief-from-facebook/

Thousands of marbles are imbedded in a polymer surface. 

Coming down and going up

You know you are ageing when you see buildings being demolished that you remember being built. In this case, it is a good thing. The demolished building was a cheap hotel. I can even remember the Bayview advertising for new staff for its opening in the mid 1980s, I think.

I could have done a whole lot better with the progression of demolition, but no matter. Here is what I took.

The two lower buildings are joined.

I have better views. 

As was the case when the hotel was built, so too is the old mansion still a protected building. 

Meanwhile looking towards Fawkner Park, a large and bulky 70s or 80s office building was demolished and a new apartment building is being constructed.  The new building obstructs less of my view than the old building did. 

Along the grand boulevard of St Kilda Road, office block buildings are coming down and apartment buildings are rising. Very expensive apartment buildings now, unlike the comparatively cheap seats where I live.