https://www.australiandesignreview.com/ ... emolition/The Lost City of Melbourne captures a rich architectural history before its demolition
Melbourne's architectural heritage, lost and saved, brought to light by self-funded filmmakerA new documentary called The Lost City of Melbourne charts a destructive period in Melbourne’s architectural history when much of its Victorian-era heritage was demolished.
Melbourne was the fastest growing city in the world in the 1850s due in large part to the Gold Rush, becoming more like the bustling cosmopolitan cultural centre it is now.
People would get dressed up in their Sunday best just to ‘Do the Block’ of Collins Street, walking past the expensive boutiques or down to the theatre district on Bourke Street.
Decorated with master craftsmanship, the city’s grand Victorian-era hotels, theatres, cafes and markets reflected the way of life for the well-to-do, as well as the sheer amount of money the local government spent on development.
It was also a reflection of colonialism, with this new city built on the land of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung peoples, destroying sites of cultural significance to reach that point.
A hundred years later, in the 1950s, the perfect storm of events came together to topple the architecture once again.
Melbourne filmmaker Gus Berger has a bone to pick with Australia's starry-eyed property developers.
Key points:
A Melbourne filmmaker documents the rise and fall of the city's great cinema houses
Gus Berger hopes the film will strengthen a broader campaign to protect architectural heritage
The filmmaker criticises the trend of facadism, where only the front of a historic building is retained
They can have their sleek city high rises and sprawling chic apartments — just not at the expense of the city's spectacular architectural heritage.
In his self-funded documentary, The Lost City of Melbourne, Mr Berger documents the demise of some of the city's grandest picture palaces after the advent of television brought its golden era of cinema expansion to a crashing end.
It showcases the architectural wonder of scores of theatres dotted from street corner to thoroughfare — all now lost to what some critics have called short-sighted decision making.
