Today there are three art galleries on the property at Heide - one in the original homestead where John and Sunday first lived (picture below), the second in a 'new' home that the Reeds built for themselves in the 1960's and the third is a purpose-built gallery which was built in 1992.
And now on to today's 'adventures' - walk # 5 which is called "The Cosmopolitan". Now let me say that today was probably not the best choice of days for me to be doing this walk as I did, most certainly, look a bit out of place. For those of you who do closely follow world news you would know that Dame Elisabeth Murdoch died earlier this month and her state funeral was held today at St. Paul's Cathedral (the Anglican cathedral here in Melbourne - pictured in one of my first posts from Melbourne). Many of the 1000 invited guests clearly stayed around after the service and wandered some of the sophisticated streets of Melbourne - they in their beautiful black dresses and suits and me in my old purple shorts and top. Oh well, I walked as if I belonged with the crowds.
I started today by going back to the Federation Bells, which actually weren't a part of the walk but I wanted to hear them play. So between the cathedral bells that rang beautifully at the end of the funeral and then the mini-concert of the Federation Bells my noon-hour today was filled with melodious sounds.
Today's walk was through parts of Melbourne that would be like Yorkville and Chinatown, with a good wander by some of the old theatres here in Melbourne as well.
My first stop was at the Manchester Unity Building. You might remember a photo of the original elevators in an earlier post - well here is the outside of that wonderful art deco building, built in the 1930s.
Collins Street is Melbourne's most sophisticated shopping street, home to Tiffany & Co., Hermes, Louis Vuitton and many other well known names. Majestic, tree-lined Collins Street is one of Melbourne's most prestigious addresses.
This is the Regent Theatre (top photo), built in 1929, and across the street from it is the Melbourne Athenaeum which was founded in 1839 and is now the home of the Melbourne Opera. If you look closely at the photo you might be able to see Athena on the parapet.
Further up the street is Scots Church where Dame Nellie 'Melba' sang in the late 1800s. Dame Nellie was born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell and she adopted the name "Melba" after her birthplace Melbourne. Her father was the builder of the church which was the first Presbyterian Church to be built in Victoria state, built in 1839.
Beside Scot Church is St. Michael's Uniting Church - it was built in the 1860s and has beautiful polychrome patterns all over its exterior.
101 Collins Street, located at the "Paris" end of Collins Street, is the most influential business address in Melbourne. The interior of the building is amazing with four water pools, stunning marble, granite columns and gold leaf panelling.
Further along Collins Street is the prestigious Sofitel --- and the view from the windows of the washrooms on the 35th floor was quite spectacular!! (I was most definitely under dressed wandering around here!)
At the end of Collins Street is the Gold Treasury Museum which is Victoria''s Old Treasury Building. It was built between 1858 and 1862 and hosts the original gold vaults where the gold bullion was stored during the gold rush era. The fellow who designed the building, J.J. Clark, was only 19 years old.
Melbourne's Windsor Hotel is the grandest surviving hotel from the 1880s and The Windsor's afternoon tea is almost an institution.
Parliament House has been the seat of parliament in Victoria since 1855 and it definitely is a grand, old building.
Across the street from Parliament House is the Princess Theatre, built in 1886. Frederick Baker was an actor who died on stage here in 1888 and many say his ghost still haunts the building. (I wonder if "Phantom of the Opera" has ever played here?)
Her Majesty's Theatre is the last one that I passed in my travels today. The original building was built in 1886 and then had significant renovations and was renamed Her Majesty's Theatre in 1934. Since that time it has staged over 100 musicals. As you can see from the banners, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" is playing here currently ... and yes I've seen it ... and Geoffrey Rush is absolutely brilliant as Pseudolus!!
My walk back took me through Melbourne's "Chinatown" - not dissimilar to the one in Toronto but what it doesn't have is an area like Kensington Market. What it does have though is the Chinese Museum with an incredibly unique decoration on the front facade.
This is the Methodist Mission in Chinatown - and I don't think you can read the sign on the side of the building but it warns 'Commit No Nuisance.' I knew to be on my best behaviour here!
Back in the heart of Melbourne's downtown area again - kind of like being at Yonge and Queen or Yonge and Bloor - there are four weather vanes, one on each of the four corners of the intersection. They are a horse, a pig, a fish and a bird and sit high up on tram poles. Like the Public Purse statue, they are a part of Melbourne's urban art. Unfortunately I couldn't get all four in one photo so here are two that you can see.
And lastly I walked past another of Melbourne's urban art pieces, "Three Businessmen Who Brought Their Own Lunch" - built to commemorate three of Melbourne's founding fathers; Batman, Swanston and Hoddle.
I'm leaving Melbourne again tomorrow, flying to Adelaide and then I'll be spending the holidays and some time afterwards with friends who live in South Australia. Although I will have computer access (for those of you who would like to email - hint), I don't think I'm going to have a lot of access to WiFi and therefore there may not be any blog postings for awhile. As always though, I will do my best to keep you updated - so just be a bit patient if you don't see a new post for a while.
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and wishing everyone the best in 2013!
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