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credit to Melbourne tourism"
Anna
31st August 2009 |
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The White Hat Guide to Melbourne architecture, buildings, icons and landmarks
 | Flinders Street Station | |
Melbourne is one of the best preserved neo-gothic cities in the world. The rectangular grid of the CBD together with the wide streets, the trams and mainly European trees create a dignified formal streetscape that the locals take for granted. Melbourne's first years as a European settlement were not salubrious. It was a remote township, a long way from England and even from established towns in Australia. We had the good fortune to have the government surveyor, Robert Hoddle, lay out a generous grid for the town - one mile by half a mile with streets 99 feet wide. Much of that land was unused in the first 15 years of Melbourne's existence. Various small functional buildings grew up, but few had architectural pretension. Then came gold in 1851! The colony was transformed, and over the next 30 years nearly all pre-Gold Rush buildings were replaced with more ostentatious ones. Today there are few pre-Gold Rush buildings remaining in the centre of Melbourne. They include St. James Old Cathedral and Mayor John Smith's residence. With the Gold Rush came wealth and a building boom, and as always, having great wealth does not always mean having great taste. Some of the buildings of that period were the kitsch of the time and the over-ornamented ostentatious style is often referred to as the 'boom style' (referring to the land boom). The most concentrated collection of major buildings from this period can be found in Collins Street. 
Springthorpe Memorial
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The Robin Boyd Foundation invites you to an rare public open day of privately-owned houses designed by architect Harold Desbrowe-Annear. There are 6 inspiring houses open for you to visit. An exclusive collection of houses never before opened to the public 5 houses designed by Desbrowe-Annear, 1 designed with his influence Harold Desbrowe-Annear was one of the most innovative architects in Australia in the early twentieth century. Trained in the heady days of Melbourne’s 1880s land boom and imbued with the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement, he was acclaimed by Robin Boyd as a pioneer of modernism. In his first book Victorian Modern published in 1949 Boyd wrote "Harold Desbrowe Annear was the first Australian-born to produce original architecture, a big bluff, hearty architect, who knew what he wanted, and saw that his clients got it."
Desbrowe-Annear embraced the power of architecture to improve people’s lives. Open plan living areas expressed architecturally the new openness and sense of freedom that was flowing through society at the time of Federation – an Australian architecture that responded to climate, use and place. In the spirit of the Arts and Crafts he saw the suburban house in its widest sense – as part of a total ensemble that included the interior, the furnishings and the garden. He promoted the idea of an ‘architecture of democracy’: an art available to everyone. Adopting a variety of styles, the houses were nonetheless all planned for comfort and functional efficiency, as well as good design. Open houses are: - Desbrowe-Annear House (1903)
- Chadwick House (1903)
- Darvall House - Billiard Room extension (1908 - 11)
- Macgeorge House (1910)
- Bray House (1910)
- Napier Waller House and Studio (1922)
- as well as the Springthorpe Memorial (1897 – 1900)
This is a ticketed event. All tickets must be pre-purchased. Tickets will not be available for sale on the day. Day Pass Ticket prices: General public $90 Robin Boyd Foundation Members $70 Students $50 Click here for booking form 
Napier Waller House in suburban Melbourne
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The White Hat Quiz
One of the most popular segments of the various
White Hat Newsletters is the
quiz at the end of the newsletter. Many of our readers tell us that they have
developed an addiction to the quiz and look forward to the challenge it presents
each week. Here is an example from previous newsletters:
- In Melbourne you will find several significant buildings based on the proportion of the 'golden rectangle'. Name one.
Other architecture links on this site:
'Mac' Robertson
Architecture
Architecture, Buildings & Landmarks
Arthur Boyd
Charles D'Ebro
Charles Wbb
City Square
Energy Efficient Buildings
Federation Square
Flinders Street Station
G. B. H. Austin
Harold Desbrowe-Annear
Harry Norris
Harry Tompkins
Henry Bastow
Henry Kemp
J. J. Clark
John Gill
John Gollings
John Murray Peck
Joseph Reed
Leonard Terry
Marcus Barlow
Nahum Barnet
Nonda Katsalidis
Robin Boyd
Sean Godsell
Sir Frank Tait
Southern Cross Station
The Built Environment in Melbourne
William Pitt
William Wardell
William Westgarth
White Hat works hard
to make information on these pages current and correct. However with
many thousands of entries, much of it changing daily, errors may occur.
Always verify the information by using the phone numbers supplied with
each event or venue before making a special trip or using this
information for any other purpose. If you believe some information is
incorrect, please contact us at
corrections@whitehat.com.au
and we will attempt to verify or change the information
DISCLAIMER: White Hat makes no claim as
to the accuracy of this information and takes no responsibility for
incorrect or incomplete information
or for actions based on the information in these pages, and accepts no
liability to any person or organisation for the information contained in
these pages.
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| Page last updated: | 20 September, 2011 | | URL:
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Subscribe to our
FREE Newsletter 'City Design - the White Hat guide'
Each issue contains articles and news on city planning,
heritage issues, urban transit, urban lifestyle and
architecture. As with all our newsletters it aims to be Intelligent,
Informed, Independent and (occasionally) Irreverent. |
TOURISM NEWS
Qantas In Flight Magazine chooses
White Hat
Cemetery Tour as its featured Australian tour for May
There are many fine historical tours
throughout Australia including cemetery tours. From these, the
prestigious Qantas In Flight Magazine has chosen the White Hat Tour
of Melbourne Cemetery as its featured Australian tour for the May
2007 edition. This tour was also featured by ABC radio on 24 May and
will feature in a documentary series on Burke and Wills to be shown
on European television in 2008. The tour has been operating for many years and has won
praise from a wide range of sources. This is not a dry and stuffy
tour but in keeping with all White Hat offerings it is Informed,
Intelligent, Independent (and occasionally) Irreverent. You can find
details of the tour at White
Hat Tour of Melbourne Cemetery and view the article at
Qantas In Flight Magazine. |
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