Melbourne & Australian Architecture Topics

Having just returned from another visit, I thought I'd share a handful of snapshots of some buildings from this very beautiful city.

More to come later. If you have some better ones feel free to share. I love this place.

I believe that the Presbyterian Church (last photo above) has been privately sold and I think the new owners are architect/cdevelopers. It will be interesting to see what they do with it. IIRC the folly/belltower has a pronounced lean (not visiblre from the angle of the above photograph) which is likely to cause some problems.

u.p.

The conservatory reminds me of the one in the Fitzroy gardens.

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and the drinking fountain reminds me of the onwe outside the Hotham (North Melbourne) Town Hall. I seem to remember they were produced as a pair. This sounds like a job for . . "dah dah" . . Edwardian!

I am not Edwardian, but they a similar, but have significant differents. The one at North Melbourne has four sides, while the one in Launceston as six sides. Also the fountain bit in Launceston is more decorative.

See http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/jcollins/gid/slv-pic-aaa93501for picture of North Melbourne fountain.

This is a bit off topic but....

These cast iron drinking fountains were manufactured by Walter Macfarlane and Co, at the Saracen Foundry in Glasgow from the 1860's and as they could be ordered directly from the MacFarlane's Castings trade catalogue these drinking fountains are located all over the world.

The only difference between the drinking fountains worldwide is usually the finial on top and, of course, the coat of arms of the different councils/memorials in the shield.

The 4-column version which can be seen at Hotham (North Melbourne) Town Hall and Nelson Place, Williamstown (the Rev. George Wilkinson memorial fountain) is Pattern Number 8 [refer photos below], while the 8-column version which can been seen in Launceston is Pattern Number 21 from the 1863 MacFarlane's Castings trade catalogue.

In July 1887 it was decided by the Launceston City Council to purchase the MacFarlane Pattern No.21 drinking fountain for City Park, Launceston to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden (50th) Jubilee which was 20 June 1887. However the City Council thought it a good idea that the children of Launceston work to pay for the drinking fountain by holding juvenile exhibitions and other fund raising events. As a result, John Hart of Hart & Co. ordered the drinking fountain and it arrived in Launceston in August 1891 where it was kept in a bonded warehouse until the children of Launceston raised enough money to reimburse the cost of £200. It took until June 1897 to raise the money, so although the drinking fountain was to commemorate the Queen's Golden (50th) Jubilee of June 1887 it was not installed and turned on until the Queen's Diamond (60th) Jubilee of June 1897.

[Note: In my copy of the c.1885 MacFarlane's Castings catalogue the cost of the Launceston drinking fountain would have been about £74-10-3d for the No.21 pattern 8-column cast iron fountain canopy plus £28-11-6d for the No.18 "Dog Trough" drinking font plus shipping, finial and coat of arms].



The following is a comparison of the two MacFarlane Pattern No.8 drinking fountains in Melbourne from when they were installed in the 1870's until the 1960's.


The following is a copy of the April 1860 MacFarlane's Castings catalogue for Pattern No.8 drinking fountain which cost £27-10s each and an invoice for the purchase of 8 drinking fountains for the City of Sydney dated 9 February 1870.


These drinking fountains can be found worldwide and there is a gallery to them on Flickr at the following web address:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47101250@N00/galleries/72157626477359336/#photo_213141101