Art and Architecture of Melbourne

Guest writer Melissa Hendry is a Realtravel blogger and Australia native whose travels include South America, Ireland and Spain, places about which she has written travel blogs. She was also our guest writer for the article The Top 10 Places to Feel Small.

Mosaics in Melbourne

Nevermind the relative virtue of Celsius over Fahrenheit, the real battle is being fought everyday at the Kelvin Club, found at the end of a graffiti lined laneway in Melbourne. Here, at the Kelvin Club, men sit in leather chairs wearing tweed jackets, smoking pipes while drinking single malt whisky, debating the superiority of the Kelvin temperature system over all others.

Well, that’s what I always imagined each day as I walked to work and saw the simple brass plaque at the far end of the appropriately named ‘Melbourne Lane’, proclaiming it the home of Kelvinites everywhere. What had originally drawn my eye towards the otherwise non-descript laneway, running off a busy Melbourne city street, was the Gaudi like mosaic façade of its’ neighbour, the Canary Club. From that moment on, just like when thinking about buying a new car, I began to see mosaics all over Melbourne.

Melbourne is a beautiful city, who rewards the patient and the open-minded as it slowly reveals its’ true heart. To wander around Melbourne isn’t for the purpose of ticking off ‘must-see’ items, it is to soak up the ‘the vibe’ of the place. The architecture, the food, the bars, the random sculptures, the parks, the galleries, the quirky laneways, the sport, the festivals – they are all world class, always changing and always surprising.

As a long-term resident of Melbourne, even I can be pleasantly surprised by some detail of the city that I’d never noticed. Mosaics are a case in point.

Newspaper House, 247 Collins St

Newspaper house, an understated art deco building has a gorgeously detailed glass tile mosaic mural with the quote “I’ll put a girdle about the earth”, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The detail of this mural is impressive and is barely noticed by the hundreds of city workers and shoppers who hurry past each day. Collins St is one of Melbourne’s finest streets, full of beautiful buildings, high end stores and theatres, all shaded by leafy elm trees. Across the road from Newspaper House is another fine example of mosaics.

Block Arcade, Collins St to Little Collins St

The Block arcade is one of the best 19th century arcades to be found in the world. The arcade is an L shape, linking Collins St to Little Collins St to Elizabeth St. The floor is all mosaic, with a glass and wrought iron ceiling and carved stone columns. The arcade has successfully transitioned to the 21stcentury with a mixture of tearooms, chocolate shops and designer home ware and handbag stores.

A once narrow and derelict service laneway at the rear of the arcade has been opened and is now one of Melbourne’s cutest and busiest café strips. Always crowded and always smiling (you have to smile as you squeeze past tables of lattes and cake!), it is a great place to rest your feet and not surprisingly, spot some more mosaic facades. Heading away from the shopping area of the city, there are more examples to be seen.

15 Williams Street

Here in the legal district of town is what I believe to be Melbourne’s most exceptional mosaic mural. The foyer of this otherwise dull office block houses a giant classical mural of gods, flames and lightening and the quote, “Let then the blazing levin-flash be hurled” from Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.), Prometheus Bound. The line is a reference to summary justice from the gods, in the form of a lightening bolt.

This mural is truly a reward for those prepared to wander away from the tourist areas. If you need further encouragement, the Melbourne Aquarium and Immigration Museum are quite close by and also worth a look.

Arts Centre Precinct, St Kilda Road

Melbournians are difficult to pigeon hole, with 80,000 plus people attending a football match at the MCG(Melbourne Cricket Ground) each weekend and over 1.6 million people visiting the NGV(National Gallery of Victoria) in 2007 and many would have done both.

Here in the Arts Centre is a small mosaic mural recognising the previous performing residents of the site, the Wirth Brothers Circus who entertained from 1907 to 1953.

If you wander further up St Kilda Road you will find the NGV and its’ austere frontage with the whimsical water wall. Inside, away from the exhibits is the Great Hall and its’ vast stained glass ceiling. It’s not technically a mosaic, but it is one of the nicest places to stop in Melbourne for a bit of quiet time. It’s almost always empty and you can happily sit on the floor, read the paper, study your Lonely Planet or nap!

Birrarung Marr

Nearby, across the river is Melbourne’s latest park, Birrarung Marr. Here stands a tiled (not really a mosaic) sculpture who’s home used to be the front of the NGV. It is a colourful addition to this modern park that joins the city to Melbourne’s sporting grounds, the MCG (capacity 100,000), Rod Laver Arena (tennis and concerts) and Olympic Park (rugby and soccer).

Eastern Hill Fire Station, Albert Street East Melbourne

Melbourne has many grand parks and close by to Treasury Gardens and Fitzroy Gardens is the Eastern Hill Fire Station. On this site are both the old fire station built in 1893 and now a museum and also the newer headquarters of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. On the Albert Street side is a giant mosaic mural that makes use of the entire façade. The mural is made up of over 1 million glass tiles and is titled, ‘The Legend of Fire’. The mural moves from the tales of the Greek Gods, to modern man’s use of fire in science and technology and also, importantly, man’s constant battle with fire.

There are many more examples of mosaics in Melbourne, you just need to look up and around and under your feet occasionally and you will spot these creative uses of broken glass and crockery!

As for the Kelvin Club, I did ask around a few friends and some even claimed to have been inside. They agreed there were leather chairs and stuffy old men, however the topics of conversation were never disclosed.

I could have knocked on the door of course, or searched online, but in the end, the romance of people holding out on the scientific merit of Kelvin was much more appealing.

Resources:

Melbourne Travel Guide
Melbourne Hotels
Melbourne Attractions
Melbourne Photos
More of Melissa’s Melbourne Mosaic Photos

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