Melbourne & Australian Architecture Topics

Historic Flinders Street in glorious black & white, from east end to west end.
The early years.

Part 1





Above and below, before Flinders Steet Station there was Hanton’s Fruit Market and Bycicle Stables (old Fishmarket) photographed in1895.















Above, Queen’s Wharf on the south side of Flinders Street in 1880, and below Flinders Street and the Yarra River become one, during a flood in 1863.

_________________
The Collector's Marvellous Melbourne

http://www.thecollectormm.com.au/

Part 2

The later years.





Rainy day, outside Flinders Street Station, December 7, 1965.







The ballroom at Flinders Street Station.



The Fish Market clocktower is gone, not long before the rest will be demolished.

_________________
The Collector's Marvellous Melbourne

http://www.thecollectormm.com.au/

Really nice .....those shots of the old fish market are great.

Any idea what the building five down from the top is? The one which appears to have been gutted by fire - looks fantastic.

edit: Excuse me......found my answer in your "Lost Skyscrapers" thread. Finks Building.......what a marvellous building - another treasure torn down...

I wish they'd rebuild those Fish Markets.

I am sick of seeing them stuff around with the site.

I really don't think whatever they build there, will do it any justice.

I think it'd be interesting to see someone rebuild something that was lost durring the 1950's and 1960's. I don't think it has ever been done before - at least not on a large scale. And if any building deserved reconstruction, it would be that Fish Market - it's absolutely stunning.

Most of the major reconstructions I can think of are for buildings destroyed in WWII.

Yes Krazy Kat ... the WW II restorations prove it can be done, and it would be great for a city like Melbourne to officially recognise the equivalent evils of 1950s and 60s development ethos.

Dresden was a beautiful German city bombed in World War II. Since the war they have rebuilt some of Dresden's former landmarks, such as the Frauenkirche, the Semperoper, and the Zwinger deciding against replacement with modern structures and instead restoring much of the urban fabric with the aid of the British as a means of reconcilliation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of ... rld_War_II

The rebuilding of Dresden has attracted heaps of architectural criticism though with some of the buildings, such as the Residenzschloss being reconstructed facades but with modern interiors (like the St Kilda Pier Kiosk).

Many architects mock the reconstruction as "Disneyland" architecture.

Just some of the many buildings returned to Dresden:


The reconstructed Dresden Frauenkirche.


Interior


The reconstructed Semperoper


Residenzschloss (Residental Palace) reconstruction began in 1989. The interior was not reconstructed and is in a modern style.

Who can argue though with the tourists that are once again returning to beautiful Dresden and the locals who now get back some of their most beloved landmarks.

Nevertheless, Dresden and our own St Kilda Pier Kiosk prove that if people are passionate enough about it, it can be done (as much as it pains me to know that Australians are not as proud of our history as Europeans).

I think that if I could reconstruct parts of Melbourne that were subject to similar malicious attacks, I would start with:

* The Federal Coffee Palace (knock down that ugly concrete crap that is currently on the corner of Collins & King Streets).
* The Fish Markets (site has been vacant since the 50s - would be great instead of some crappy modern thing).
* The Australian Building (APA) (would be easy to demolish the 4 storey 80s eyesore that replaced it)
* The Colonial Mutual Building (they even still have many of the parts of this one)
* Queen Victoria Buildings (let's face it, City Square would be no loss, and the council could even reimburse us for their destruction of this beautiful building).
* Carlton Coffee Palace (would look a little piece of Paris next to the Carlton gardens and exhibition buildings).
* Temperence and General Life Assurance (aka "Town Hall Chambers" cnr Little Collins & Swanston - site of the Cafe il'Contro and CH2)




(this would blend well with the town hall next door)

This would bring back some beautiful civilised landmarks to our city, and imagine how great they'd look brand spanking new !