farmdoc's blog post number 670

Today’s ‘List Friday’. It’s been almost twelve years since I changed from living mainly in Melbourne to mainly in Tasmania. I was born in the Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital, my primary and secondary schooling was entirely in Melbourne, I obtained my medical degree and my PhD from the University of Melbourne, and I reckon that until 1998 I’d lived 95% of my life in Melbourne. These days I’m a country boy. I don’t like visiting cities, including Melbourne. It’s the rubbish, noise, traffic, fumes, advertising, and more. But despite all this, my hometown Melbourne’s still my number one city. It’s a case of ‘you can take the boy out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the boy’. All of which is a lead-in to today’s list: ‘Melbourne’s Worst Eyesores’. The Sunday Age asked Melbourne’s leading architects and urban planners to nominate buildings so foul they are fit for demolition only. This resulted in a list of ten ‘Worst Eyesores’. I must say I agree with all ten, and off the top of my head I can’t think of any others that should displace any of these ten. But when you think of the number of large buildings Melbourne has, the number of eyesores is smaller than expected. This said, I’d love to see the same architects and planners list Melbourne’s ten most attractive buildings. That list would be more controversial. Much more.