First edition hardback, $110 (incl. GST). Ships from early December. Flat-rate $15 shipping across Australia. First 100 pre-orders receive signed bookplate.

Howard Lawson didn't wait for a brighter future. He designed and built it.

In the early 20th century, Howard R Lawson designed and built more than 200 colourful theatres, houses, entertainment complexes and flats across Victoria. They include South Yarra’s much-loved Beverley Hills flats, the Wimmera flats in St Kilda, and Broxted, his own home.

He was an Arts and Crafts architect with radical ideas. As early as 1912, he was championing recycling and arguing that housing should build neighbourhoods and community, clustered around buildings that make people happy. More than a century later, his buildings still do exactly that.

So how did one of Melbourne’s most visionary architects go from famous to forgotten?

Architect of Optimism tells the full story of a larger-than-life figure: his ambition, his imagination, and his belief that good design could make people’s lives better. It is a story about Victoria, about optimism, and about a man who cared as much for the people in his buildings as for the buildings themselves.

Inside this book

• 340 pages, lavishly illustrated

• Author: Virginia Blue

• Publisher: Actinotus Press, Melbourne

• Format: hardcover

• Size: A4

• ISBN: 978-1-7649766-0-2

• Never-before-seen images and a wealth of archival photographs

• Glorious photographs of Beverley Hills flats by renowned photographer Mike Baker

• Printed in Melbourne

• Hardback gift edition, $110 (incl. GST). Flat-rate $15 shipping across Australia. First 100 pre-orders receive signed bookplate. The perfect Christmas gift for anyone who loves Victoria, its buildings, or a story that will lift their spirits. First edition copies are limited, so order early.