Art Deco Buildings

former Sanitarium Factory, Warburton

2012-01-28T22:59:00.002+11:00

I used to spend quite a lot of time in Warburton and have loved this metal gate from the first time I saw it.

The gate is looking a bit worse for wear now as is the building that it leads to, the former Sanitarium Factory. They used to make Weet-Bix here which explains the stylised stalk of wheat worked into the design of the gate.

The Sanitarium Health Food Company, owned by the Seventh-Day Adventists, had built an earlier factory on the banks of the Yarra River in Warburton next to their Signs Publishing complex but it was damaged by flood in 1934 so architect Edward F Billson was commissioned to design a new factory on higher ground. It was completed in 1939 and won Billson the Street Architecture Medal from the Royal Victoria Institute of Architects (RVIA) in 1940.

The factory closed in 1997 but hopefully a new lease of life as a conference and reception centre awaits this handsome building with plans for refurbishment in the pipeline since around 2006.

The Warburton Adventists website includes an extensive photo gallery of their former factory.

Reference:
Sanitarium Health Food Company Factory, Warburton Adventists website

Wade Building, Hastings

2012-01-27T21:35:00.000+11:00

Wade Building, Hastings, NZ

115 Cressy Street, Deniliquin

2012-01-25T19:51:00.003+11:00

As you can see this a simple clean stylish deco shopfront. It has a nice use of contrasting tiles and very simple design elements such as the two horizontal bands of cream tiles to the right of the doorway.

What I find interesting is that the rest of the building is older at least by a decade or three.

Commercial pressures probably lead to the redesign of the building at street level and here again in April 2011 when I took this picture the commercial forces are looking for a new owner for this fine building.

Caister Road Bus Depot, Great Yarmouth

2012-01-21T22:23:00.002+11:00

I was looking through some old photos today and came across the Caister Road Bus Depot in Great Yarmouth.

According to the memories of Patrick Burnside it was the garage for the blue & cream buses of Great Yarmouth Corporation Transport. By the time these photos were taken in around 2001 the buses were still blue and cream (although more cream than blue) but 'The Corporation' was long gone.

The red brick bulk of the building is broken up by vertical fins running either side of the garage openings and there are three panels showing different forms of transport.

There's ...

a carriage ...

a very early steam train ...

but my favourite is the blue Routemaster style bus.

Reference:
Great Yarmouth Corporation Transport by Patrick Burnside, Our Great Yarmouth website

House, Frinton-on-Sea

2012-01-20T20:11:00.001+11:00

A modernist house in Frinton-on-Sea.

Travellers Rest Hotel, Thorpedale

2012-01-18T21:49:00.002+11:00

It says 1937 on the pediment of the Travellers Rest Hotel in Thorpedale. The lettering spelling out the pub name and that whole central section of the pub are so typical of mid to late 1930s Streamline design.

And closer inspection revealed that many of the windows still bear the original etched glass some, like the that shown in the photograph below have the stylised TRH initials.

From New York to Fish Creek Exhibition

2012-01-16T10:35:00.003+11:00

Plans for my From New York to Fish Creek exhibition are progressing nicely which is just as well because it is less than a month away.

For anyone in the Warragul area, the exhibition is open to the public, free, on weekdays Tue 14th Feb - Fri 24th Feb at the West Gippsland Arts Centre, cnr Smith & Albert Sreets, Warragul. (Visit the WGAC Exhibitions webpage for details)

I've designed a poster which should attract a bit of attention.

Luck's Corner, Launceston

2012-01-15T21:44:00.002+11:00

Former Luck's Butchers Store from 1937 in Launceston, Tasmania. It's now a restaurant.

Railway Club Hotel, Seymour

2012-01-14T16:39:00.002+11:00

The rural Victorian town of Seymour boasts these two fine pubs. The Art Deco style Railway Club Hotel in the foreground and the Terminus Hotel behind that. They are close to the Railway Station ... believe it or not.

The Railway Club Hotel has very nice Art Deco style tiles at street level. Interestingly, so does the Victorian style Terminus Hotel.

Tiles on the street level façade of the Railway Club Hotel, Seymour

Tiles on the street level façade of the Terminus Hotel, Seymour

Clevelander, Miami South Beach

2012-01-13T13:11:00.002+11:00

Clevelander (1938) on Ocean Drive designed by Albert Anis.

Reference:
The Clevelander Hotel: Where the Action Begins, Ocean Drive Miami Beach website

Hotel Terminus, Shepparton

2012-01-11T20:23:00.002+11:00

In 1938 Melbourne architects J F Ballantyne & Roy Wilson remodelled the Hotel Terminus in Shepparton. They added a second storey and extended the ground floor of the original 1880s building giving the old hotel a slick Moderne look.

Reference:
City of Greater Shepparton Heritage Study Stage II, Allom Lovell & Associates, February 2004

Union Depot, Tulsa

2012-01-09T19:21:00.002+11:00

At its peak, the Tulsa Union Depot serviced as many as 36 trains daily but the days of train as a major form of transport was numbered and this fine building ceased operation in 1967. A useful life of just 36 years.

Empty and falling apart, it was rescued and restored in the 1980s and was used as office space demonstrating that older buildings can be adapted and reused.

Since 2007 it has been the home of the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.

Reference:
Tulsa Preservation Commission website

Barlow & Weller Pharmacy, Denilquin

2012-01-08T21:07:00.002+11:00

A small corner shop in rural Australia, Denilquin, New South Wales to be precise. A simple building as you would expect currently occupied by Barlow & Weller's Pharmacy. But the roofline has that extra Art Deco something. Horizontal bars curving around the corner and two rounded pylons marking the entrance. Nice.

A House in Ararat

2012-01-07T22:52:00.001+11:00

Acland Court Pharmacy, St Kilda

2012-01-06T21:24:00.003+11:00

This is the Acland Street frontage of the Acland Court Pharmacy. It is a 1938 former G J Coles & Co store designed by architect Harry A Norris.

It is part of the St Kilda Market Complex which is cited in the City of Port Phillip Heritage Review as a Significant heritage building.

The doorways are interesting because they have an Art Deco pattern in the terrazzo entrances. Unfortunately they are not looking there best and, in fact, it is rare to see them because they are usually covered by large mats. It would be lovely to see them cleaned up and put on show a bit more often.

Reference:
City of Port Phillip Heritage Review, August 2000

Lumberjack @ Gare Centrale, Montreal

2012-01-04T20:35:00.002+11:00

The interior of the Gare Centrale in Montreal features an amazing array of murals by Charles Comfort depicting all aspects of Canadian life like this lumberjack.

Apartments, Montevideo

2012-01-02T21:49:00.001+11:00

Drab, grey and a bit run-down but I do love the shape of the asymmetrical balconies.

Dicksons Mensland, Warragul

2012-01-01T21:29:00.003+11:00

Recently I wrote about the former Warragul branch of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney (CBC) at 5 Smith Street and while scouring the internet for information on the building I came across the CBC Officers Club Inc website that included a letter from Malcolm Dickson with the following paragraph.

My father rented a shop at 5 Smith Street from 1930 to June 1939 when we had to vacate the shop for the CBC Bank.

We moved to 30 Smith Street where the business is still operated by my son and two Grandsons.

And that, I'm afraid, is a long-winded way of getting to Dicksons Mensland at 30 Smith Street, Warragul.

Edificio Petronio, Copacabana

2011-12-31T21:35:00.002+11:00

This is the foyer of Edificio Petronio in Copacabana.

N Le Bakery, Leongatha

2011-12-28T22:54:00.002+11:00

The N Le Bakery in Leongatha looks rather plain from a distance.

A closer look will reveal some Egyptian style touches. The top corners of the building, painted white, are typically Egyptian. The windows on the upper floor have three stone feathers as decoration but the best decoration is in the balcony area especially the capitals of the columns.

And there is something behind the N Le Bakery sign. You can just see the top edge of it in the first picture. Perhaps it is a window. I'll have to go back and see if I can get a better look at it from further up the street.

A House in Warragul

2011-12-25T08:39:00.003+11:00

A lovely deco house in Warragul. Great gate posts, replicated on the porch. A strip of garden outside the hedge next to the footpath. Inlaid coloured brick for decoration.

There's a lot going on including that old hubcap on the gate. It must have a practical use. I can see the owners smashing into it with their shopping jeep into that hubcap to protect the gate and open it at the same time. At least I hope that is the genius behind the addition.

Best wishes and peace to everyone this Christmas time!

PS: Did I mention that this house is in Peace Avenue.

PPS: If you want to know more about shopping jeeps have a look at Kitty and the Cartwheelers’ Shopping Jeep Bonanza, a short film by Michaela French from 1996.

former CBC Bank, Warragul

2011-12-24T21:39:00.003+11:00

This handsome building at 5 Smith St, Warragul in recent times was the offices of M Davine & Co Solicitors. It is currently for sale.

In 1939 the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney (CBC) built it as their Warragul branch. CBC merged with the National Bank of Australia in 1981 undergoing some name chances in the subsequent few years to emerge as the National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB).

The branch closed in 1982.

Reference:
List of CBC Branches, CBC Officers Club Inc website (http://www.cbcbank.com.au)

Shangri-La, Warragul

2011-12-23T08:28:00.002+11:00

I am enjoying exploring my new home town of Warragul searching out Art Deco buildings.

This is a lovely Streamline Moderne house in Albert Street. I like the use of contrasting brick colouring to provide a dark foundation for the house and simple detailing across the façade and the windowsills.

Then could there be a more Deco name than Shangri-La?

GMH Social Centre, Port Melbourne

2011-12-21T14:45:00.002+11:00

I wrote about this lovely little building in July 2008.

At the time I knew that it was the Social Centre for General Motors Holden at Fishermens's Bend and I'd been lucky to visit there in 1996 and get a guided tour from the Centre manager. But I didn't know when it had been built.

The highlight of my visit was seeing the History of Transport murals by GMH employee, Eileen Robertson, located at either end of the canteen service area. You can see them in this photo and there are closer views on my previous post.

This week, however, I have been doing some work with the City of Port Melbourne Building Permits Register and was delighted to come across a entry dated 31st January 1945 for a canteen to be built for General Motors Holden by Richmond builder E A Watts.

So now I have my date. The GMH Social Centre was built in 1945.

Wall & Garden, Camberwell

2011-12-18T09:41:00.002+11:00

A good example of a terraced garden and low stepped wall on the 1930s Golflinks Estate in Camberwell.