Electricity Sub-station, Port Melbourne

Electricity came to Port Melbourne around 1911 and the local council set up their own Electricity Supply Department. Even when the State Electricity Commission (SEC) ran most of Victoria's supply, Port Melbourne along with several other inner-city municipalities continued to run their own departments until the early 1990s when the statewide Electricity supply was privatised.

The result is that Port Melbourne has a couple of little electricity sub-stations dotted among the residential streets. This one is at the apex of Nott and Princes Streets behind the Bowling Club.

The decoration simple but stylish. The bottom part of the structure shows thin brown bricks while the top has been rendered and painted a nice cream colour. The roofline is stepped and a spaced row of bricks have been embedded in the render.

The facade itself is also stepped. Two symetrical columns protrude from the wall with four double-height bricks as decoration on each. The central section is set back from the columns and is topped with another configuration of vertically placed bricks.

This simple building demonstates to me how even purely functional buildings were built to be pleasing to the eye.