Some parts of Montevideo reminded me of Asmara. There is a Modernist style to the smaller shops and flats that is very reminiscent. Also the colours, not so much the grey like this building, but the pale yellowish colour is here also. It some areas there is also that rundown, lack of maintenance feeling. This is not necessarily a bad thing because it means there is a lot of building stock than can be renovated and restored to something really, really good.
I spotted this little hall, the Seymour RSL, in the early post-dawn light during a quick stop on the way to Leeton.
I really enjoyed dipping into Sea Point yesterday so I decided to stay in Cape Town for today's building, in fact I stayed in Sea Point, ust a few doors up from Bordeaux Court.
The Chalet, in Hamilton, was built around 1947 in the effort to eradicate tuberculosis in post Second World War Australia. It was designed by the Public Works Department of Victoria using the principles of similar establishments in Europe. The large bank of north-facing windows allowing maximum exposure to the winter sun bring to mind the sun-deck of Alvar Aalto's 1929 Paimio Sanitorium in Finland.
Wednesday's post on the wonderfully named Leeton local newspaper, the Murrumbidgee Irrigator, drew some interest from Jason at Leeton Tourism so, since I'm on a roll, I decided to feature another building from this surprising NSW Riverina town.
This great little deco building, Ebrahim Court, is in the Indian quarter of Durban.
This is a house in Hamilton in Victoria's Western District. It looks quite plain but there are a couple of features that I really like such as the bars across the main windows on the front room. I can't tell if they are metal or wooden frames but the style does resemble metal windows often found on flats and commercial buildings.
I love the contrast between the dark of the trees and the light of the building lit by the South African sun in this photo of Bordeaux Court in Sea Point, Cape Town.
It is interesting sometimes the buildings that get included on tours during an Art Deco World Congress.
At the moment I keep getting drawn back to the wonderful Art Deco apartment block in Sea Point, Cape Town.
These offices in Griffith, NSW, were built for the Water Conservation & Irrigation Commission in the mid 1950s.
This is the Pyrene Building in what has been dubbed Brentford's 'Golden Mile' of Art Deco factory buildings along the Great West Road. The infamous Firestone Building stood across the road, Gillette Corner is nearby and, what is now the UK Head Office of J C Decaux is next door.
It is not every Child Health Centre that has a Second World War aeroplane in the front yard but that's what seems to be going on in Beverley, Western Australia.
This is a house in the Adelaide suburb of Somerton Park. It has many deco features. Curved walls and windows on the second storey, metal railings and glass brick walls at the entrance. I can't tell if it is new or old or a bit of both. Regardless, the front wall is really nice. I like it a lot.
Read More Building Pictures: 2012
The Tuppel Hotel is a big traditional country pub in Finley, New South Wales. Often country pubs have deep verandahs at street level and an open balcony above but the Art Deco style Tuppel just has a cantilevered verandah proving shade for the footpath but offers no balcony space for drinkers.
This impressive metal lettering spelling out the word IMPORTERS belongs to, what is now, the Target Country store in Gray Street, Hamilton. It possibly dates from the time when the building was owned by David Laidlow & Co (who also owned Millers Department Store which was next door in Gray Street).
The railway came to Hamilton in the 1870s long before the Art Deco period but obviously something happened in that interwar period and they built a new entrance to the station.
The Town Hall in Numurkah was designed by Melbourne architects A C Leith & Bartlett. It was constructed in 1938 by builder L L Bode of Seymour.
The Derwent Valley Council Chambers in New Norfolk, near Hobart, date from 1935. The year is, unusually, on the side of the building but more about that later.
The residential areas of Asmara has many buildings like this one. Modernist boxes reaching to various heights with little or no decoration. A thin line around the roof line and a single shade eyebrow encircling the entire building above the upper storey windows.
Read More Building Pictures: 2012
I think this is the best Art Deco house in Albury and would be in a lot of other places as well.
This accommodation block in Laverton dates from 1935.
Last night I went to the opening of the Albury Delightfully Deco exhibition showing at two sites, the Art Gallery and the Library/Museum, in the NSW city of Albury.
I really like the amazing series of cantilevered canopies on this Firestone Service Station in Miami. Funtionally, only one is required I think all four look sensational.
Read More Building Pictures: 2012
