A Short History of Melbourne Architecture

Melbourne’s architects have always revelled in the artifice of architecture and formal experiment. The city currently possesses a myriad of architecture cultures, which all simultaneously offer opinions as to what might constitute an appropriate architecture for the city. 

Melbourne’s pluralistic culture is nurtured by an intense self-awareness of Melbourne architectural history... the quality of its streets, its grid, its gardens, and its often wayward and obsessive preoccupation with ideas. 

The intensity of Melbourne’s history of architecture is matched by the city’s volatility in the face of economic fortune. 

A Short History of Melbourne Architecture depicts the flamboyance, the virtuosity, and the cerebral energy, which has characterised all Melbourne’s architectural cycles. 

The mid 19th century Gold Rush created the ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ of the 1880s. Self-assertion was regained as the city touted itself as ‘Australia's cradle of modernity’ in the 1950s. 

This attitude and willingness to experiment prevailed, and eventually flourished with the globally acclaimed architecture of contemporary Melbourne.

Introductory Essay by Philip Goad

Project text by Katrina Place

Photographs by Patrick Bingham-Hall

Dimensions: 130 x 150mm (Landscape) Hardback with slipcover

Extent: 120pp

Date of publication: 2002

ISBN: 978-1-887015-03-2