Fallingwater - THE house by Frank Lloyd Wight

Fallingwater from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.

Italianate and lakeside in Ballarat

The one thing I really loved about my recent visit to Ballarat were the houses and the most beautiful collection of houses I found were the houses of Windouree Parade looking across to Lake Windouree. Go here to see them. Of all these beautiful homes, the one I fell in love with was this modern but classic Italianate place. Please excuse Miss Eagle, while she indulges in an orgy of photographs of this glorious, white house.

Buona notte in Lygon Street, Carlton.

Miss Eagle went to the movies in Lygon Street, Carlton on Monday night. You can read about the movie over at Desert. Miss E came out of Cinema Nova about 9.30pm. Now it was Monday night and the night was moving on and Tuesday would not be a rest day for all. But there was life in Lygon - even if it was not as busy as a Friday and Saturday. Miss E wandered across the road to her favourit-est place in Lygon Street which was still open: Readings. Miss Eagle's budget is very strict these days so-0-0 no purchases were made...but here's what took her fancy and if there had been spare cash and lotsa time to read these would have gone home to the aerie.
NYRB keeps one up with the latest. There is nothing quite like a quality critical magazine. As a teenager Miss E was addicted to Time and Tide, an English literary journal. Does it still exist?
Ah well...one can dream

...and, while Miss E has never been a fashionista, this is stuff to admire and inspire.
And then there is Miss E's feminist spirit...it always likes to be fed!
Then it was on down Lygon Street.
Window shopping when the shops are closed is always a good policy.
...the passions can be kept under control.

And, of course, almost the whole of Lygon Street is about food, restaurants, street cafes...but those sort of photographs can wait for another time.

Food is represented here by the Lygon Food Store, below.

And as the main shopping and dining precinct was left behind, there was the residential/office precinct. As readers of TTP are aware, Miss E loves a bit of architectural detail so...
the barley sugar window...
the frieze which is actually moulded but here looks like a painted or papered frieze...
and beautiful native birds flying high in a fanlight.

And BTW, Miss Eagle did have a nibble but that is talked about at Oz Tucker.

Living at Brighton? A Melbourne Riviera?

Yesterday, Herself and Miss Eagle celebrated Mother's Day at North Point Cafe at Brighton as described here and here. As we walked up North Road, we daydreamed about the beautiful homes there in this old, close to the city, suburb.

Herself declared that this was for her. Very French Riviera, very Cote d'Azur.

Herself pointed to how savvy the owners were about gardens.

But, for Miss Eagle, she has always daydreamed of a unit here - perhaps this unit.

It is right across North Road from the Cote d'Azur model - so with Miss E here and H. there...well, it would be convenient, wouldn't it?

But we both love cottages...

and Herself thought Hansel and Gretel with this one while Miss E thought Arts & Crafts.

And then there was this place. And here is the reason...

...a Pussy Cat and a Geranium

Milton House, Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Milton House has a point of difference from most of Melbourne's inner city heritage buildings - it's Art Nouveau style.

Milton House frontage in Flinders Lane, Melbourne

External fanlight and detail

Fanlight in portico

Frieze detail
Front doors in portico

Wall detail

Light shade in portico - one of a pair

A beautiful Queen

The beautiful old buildings of Queen Street, Melbourne

No. 9 Queen Street

Bennelong House

And its detail

No. 15 Queen Street

The Lombard Building

No.18 Queen Street

Alkira House

A contrast in Art Deco

Wait-a-bit

Over at Wattletree Road at Malvern there is a little group of terraces each with its name above. My favourite is Wait-a-bit. Don't you think that is a charming name? It conjures up ideas of welcome, have a cup of tea, take a load off your feet. And then I think of other things like patience, take time out, and wait-a-bit and all will be well.

Bairnsdale 2

I took quite a shine to Bairnsdale.

The picture above is of a roundabout done in mosaic.

It is reminiscent of Gaudi and his mosaics in Barcelona.

It is also reminiscent of Estevao's Gaudi-esque work in his favela.

There is a memorial plaque in the roundabout.

Whether Porky Allen had anything to do with the mosaic creation is not mentioned.

Someone might like to let me know about this.

Bairnsdale 1

St Mary's Catholic Church, Bairnsdale, Victoria

Painting by Francesco Floreani

My last night away from home was spent in Bairnsdale - in a motel. I missed the sound of the Bass Strait rollers but - strange to tell - I went off to sleep with the sound of them - or the memory of the sound - in my ears.

The piece-de-resistance in Bairnsdale is the artwork at St Mary's Catholic Church. This is the work of Francesco Floreani. Floreani was born in Udine, near Venice, in 1899. He studied painting under Lucardi, Professor of Painting and Decorating at the Udine College before going on to the Academy of Arts at Turin.

Floreani left Italy in 1928. On arrival in Australia, he worked as ahouse painter in Melbourne. In the earlyl years of the great depression, he was forced into the country to look for work. Like many Italian migrants, he went to the Bairnsdale district where he found some employment, chiefly picking peas. Sometime in 1931, he turned up on the doorstep of the parish priest, Father Cremin, looking for work. Father Cremin asked him to repaint some of the statues at the foot of altar. He was impressed by Floreani's work as well as his credentials of formal artistic training. Every great artist needs a patron. Floreani had Father Cremin. Father Cremin commissioned Floreani to paint some murals in the church. Rather basic scaffolding was used: timber and rope anchored in sand-filled drums. Floreani covered the entire ribbed barrel-vaulted ceiling with gardlands of flowers and over three hundred seraphim and cherubim, each with a different face. The side altars, the sanctuary and upper areas of the nave walls were decorated in what proved to be a mammoth task. It took almost three years. Floreani received the sum of three pounds a week from Father Cremin's own purse. There were further extensions to the church and Floreani returned in 1937 to complete this work. He continued painting after returning to Melbourne where he died in 1981.

O, the golden domes....

I have discovered the golden domes of the

Russian Orthodox Church at Brunswick