The building we’re currently staying in here in Melbourne is a small 4-story building which happens to share a parking lot with a taller 7- or 8-story building. The buildings don’t really look alike, although they both share a similar nondescript look with all the other condo buildings around here.
But when you get a view of the other side of the tall building, though, you realize that someone must have had a different idea in mind. I mean, if the goal was to add something that would set that building apart from all the similar-looking buildings, they succeeded.
You see, up at the top of the building, and totally out of the blue for this area, there are 5 very tall plaster women in Greek or Roman attire. They are identical quintuplets; i.e., it’s the same huge but odd statue repeated 5 times (note: 2 are obscured by palm trees in the photo below). The statues – and indeed any kind of decoration at all – are only on the top floor.
Go figure, eh?
Statues on the building next door, Melbourne
Someone in Melbourne must have been inspired by Ancient Greece! Those statues look like Caryatids, and how interesting that there are five–the same number as at the Parthenon. (There used to be six, but Lord Elgin made off with one, which is on view at one of your favorite lunch hangouts, the British Museum! )
Read more here: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/gr/c/caryatid_from_the_erechtheion.aspx
Thanks, Will, for identifying the figures and giving some context, So now I think I get it – the designer/developer left for a Greek island tour while the building was being built, and came back inspired to add some Greek design to the building. However, it was too late to do anything other than put those statues up. Well, that’s my made-up backstory now, at least …