HIDDEN SECRETS ARCHITECTURE WALK
Hidden Secrets Architecture Walk - Luxury Travel Magazine
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Hidden Secrets Architecture Walk | |||||
| By: Rob McFarland, Issue 40 – Spring 2009 | |||||
| (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) | |||||
| ROB MCFARLAND HAD OFTEN STROLLED AROUND MELBOURNE’S CBD UNAWARE OF ITS ARCHITECTURAL WONDERS, UNTIL ONE DAY A WALKING TOUR GUIDE OPENED HIS EYES. | |||||
| As I watch office workers spill out of Melbourne’s Block Arcade onto Collins St, I wonder how many of them realise they’ve just been walking on the largest tiled floor mosaic in Australia. Completed in 1892, it was constructed from hundreds of boxes of pre-cut, colour-coded tiles sent over from Europe. | |||||
| Back in those days copying European architecture was all the rage, but in the designers’ haste to recreate the look of the famous Vittorio Emanuele Galleria in Milan, they made a fundamental mistake with the plans. I peer closely at the edge of the floor and notice that it spills underneath the buildings. The mosaic doesn’t fit. It’s the sort of detail you’d never notice unless you had someone like architecture enthusiast Fiona Sweetman to point it out. For five years she’s been scouring Melbourne’s historical records to put together a series of architectural walking tours of the city. | |||||
| It’s ironic that many of us would sign up for a walking tour of a city abroad, whereas it’s not an obvious choice when we’re in our own backyard. As a result, I’ve strolled around Melbourne’s CBD many times blithely unaware of the architectural wonders and fascinating history that permeates the city. | |||||
| The two-hour tours run seven days a week and can be tailored to the interests of the group. We’re staying at the recently refurbished Intercontinental Melbourne The Rialto, which is an appropriate starting point for the tour given it’s one of the finest examples of 19th-century gothic architecture in the city. A $60 million makeover last year upgraded the rooms and added a Club Lounge while maintaining the heritage-listed exterior and nine-storey internal atrium. | |||||
| From here we hop on a tram to the corner of Collins and Queen Street and look up to see the skyline-dominating Eureka Tower. Designed to resemble a surveyor’s peg, the 92-storey building is currently the tallest residential building in the world (when measured by number of floors). On a clear day its 24-carat gold plated windows can be seen glinting from 80km away. | |||||
| Fiona directs our attention across the road towards what seems rather underwhelming: an ANZ bank. And then we go inside. The interior is a collection of sweeping gothic arches, ornately decorated pillars and soaring skylights. Banking a cheque here would feel far from an onerous chore. Melbourne’s grid of streets was first planned in 1837 and adopts a similar design to that used in New York. Many of the city’s buildings line these impressive 100-feet wide promenades but the network of meandering laneways that thread between them are also a treasure trove of architectural gems. | |||||
| Architectural wonders aren’t limited to the past. At the corner of Little Collins and Swanston Street we stand and gawk at what could be the future of office block design. CH2 is Australia’s first six Green Star rated commercial office building and through an ingenious array of energy saving devices such as wind turbines, solar panels, and shutters that automatically purge heat from the building overnight, it uses a fraction of the energy of a conventional office block. | |||||
| We finish up with a drink in Federation Square and I realise that in addition to the insights I’ve gained into Melbourne’s architectural heritage, I’ve also picked up recommendations for places to eat, sleep, and drink along the way. But perhaps more importantly it has been a reminder of the importance of being curious. | |||||
| Details: | |||||
| Hidden Secrets Tours | |||||
| InterContinental Melbourne The Rialto | |||||
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