Monster Building by Simon Thornton Shocks Quiet Melbourne Street

How did it get a Planning Permit? everyone asks when they see this extension to an Edwardian house.

"People, and even Planners, seem to like it" says architect Simon Thornton, who made the first sketches after waking in the middle of the night with a strong urge to draw a large bird's head appearing above the roof of the existing house.

The design then took on a life of its own when the house owners insisted that it was a gryphon, and required the addition of a lion's hind quarters.

"I have always been excited by the possibility that the world of dreams, and the workings of the subconscious mind, can be a starting point for architecture".