Building Pictures | Building Pictures

May 30, 2012

217 Cressy Street, Deniliquin

This is 217 Cressy Street, Deniliquin currently occupied by Kevin Cole Real Estate. It is a substantial deco building and I suspect it may have been an office for the wheat board or a similar agricultural body. I say this because there are two circular plaques on the facade that include stylised wheat sheaths in their design.
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A Villa in Asmara

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: May 2012

May 28, 2012

44 Wirraway Road, Essendon Airport

44 Wirraway Road at Essendon Airport was designed by H Garnet Alsop and built in 1940. The somewhat plain building features this tower at one end with three porthole windows, small circular porch and a selection of coloured bricks on either side of the door. It appears there may have been a flagpole on the corner but only the wall brackets remains.
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A House in Albury

I think this is the best Art Deco house in Albury and would be in a lot of other places as well.

I love the sweep of the front steps and the overall curvaceousness of the house. The matching lights either side of the front door, at the door leading to the upper storey terrace and also above the garage door.

And look at those continuous shade eyebrows encircling the house above the windows. Read More Building Pictures: May 2012

RAAF Memorial, Point Cook

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Accommodation Block, Laverton

This accommodation block in Laverton dates from 1935.

It is the centre block of three and it has more elaborate entrance than the other two.

Reference:
Victorian Heritage Database

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Albury Delightfully Deco Exhibition

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.

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Firestone Service Station, Miami

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: May 2012

T&G Building, Albury

The T&G Building in Dean Street is one of the stand-out Art Deco buildings in Albury.

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A Shop in Port Melbourne

I wrote about this former shop at 9a Raglan Street, Port Melbourne almost three years ago but today I was prompted to do some research into its history.

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Troy House of Music, Footscray

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May 17, 2012

Hangar 85, Essendon Airport

Sydney architect, Arthur Baldwin, designed two hangars at Essendon Airport which were built by the Department of Air Production in 1944 for the production of Beaufort bombers.

Hangar 85 includes a two storey red brick section for offices alongside the large open work space.

The windows run in two hoizontal bands across the face of the building shaded by a simple concrete ledge. Three storey sections at both ends of the office building providing a softer transition to the taller work space.

A flagpole and clock face at the freeway end of the building make a nice grouping of features linked by horizontal bands in the brickwork.

After the second world war both hangars were taken over by Trans Australian Airlines (TAA).

References:
Essendon Airport Tour Booklet, Art Deco & Modernism Society, June 2011 Read More Building Pictures: May 2012

May 16, 2012

Accommodation Block, Laverton

A week or so ago, when I wrote about an Art Deco accommodation block in Laverton dating from 1935, I mentioned there was a row of three such accommodation blocks.

This is one of the other blocks and, although all three are similar in bulk and layout, the ones on either end do not have the same level of decoration as the middle one.

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3632 Fillmore, Marina

The apartment block is at 3632 Fillmore in the Marina area of San Francisco.

What do you think about the paint job?

I think it is a bit gaudy. Deco doesn't need to be this garish. A simple scheme using one or two colours at most is often enough to let Art Deco patterns come alive with light and shadow as the sun passes across their surface. Read More Building Pictures: May 2012

May 14, 2012

A House in Albury

I'm sure you remember another house in Albury that I posted earlier this month. A wonderful two storey Art Deco confection in a white and green colour scheme.

That post drew a comment about the next-door house with a great entrance.

This is it! Another beauty, you'll agree.

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Teatro Opera, Buenos Aires

Is's a bit cold in Buenos Aires at the moment, only 7C, but sights like this certainly warm me up. Read More Building Pictures: May 2012

May 12, 2012

Shop, Buenos Aires

A shop with an amazing stepped back facade in Tucuman, Centro in Buenos Aires. Read More Building Pictures: May 2012

May 11, 2012

Corner Building, Portland

Next door to the Audley Building in Portland, the subject of yesterday's post, is this corner building.

The corner building has been rendered but still uses the thin dark brown bricks as decoration. A line arranged vertically form the roofline. Two dark bands then ring the building high up on the façade and those same coloured bricks form the columns between the windows.

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Go Borough!

Port Melbourne won the VFL Grand Final today beating age-old rivals Williamstown 22.12.144 to 13.10.88. It's been 29 years since our last premiership and there are a lot of happy people in The Borough tonight. This is one of the banners that the local Council hung on the Port Melbourne Town Hall earlier in the week to celebrate the team reaching the Grand Final.

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The Don Boutique Hotel, behind the Mercado del Puerto in Montevideo. Built in 1938 by R Pose & Sons.
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Edificio Cerrito, Montevideo

Calle Cerrito in Montevideo's Ciudad Vieja, not surprisingly, is home to Edificio Cerrito, a rundown Art Deco apartment block. However, if my very basic Spanish is not leading me astray, the whole vacant building is for sale. Twenty-three apartments, 4 per floor (I know the maths doesn't work) and they are in a buen estado de conservation. They is good news because from the outside you could not imagine the interior would be in good condition.

Judging from the condition of the entrance and the rest of the ground floor, the building requires some work. There are also many broken windows which can't be good for the state of the interior.

Still the building has a lovely façade that reminds me of an open book. Restored this block may even raise itself into the top ten deco buildings in Montevideo. Read More Building Pictures: May 2012

Estadio Centenario, Montevideo

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May 8, 2012

Campbell Town School

This State School in Campbell Town, Tasmania was built between September 1937 and June 1938. It was designed by S W T Blythe of the Public Works Department assisted by J H Walter.

An article in the Hobart Mercury newspaper from September 23, 1937 referring to the plans described the new school as follows.

Architecturally the building has been designed in a modern style, with a tower at the corner as its dominant feature. The tall glass brick panel in the tower will offer a pleasing contrast to the marked horizontality of the class and cloak rooms.

References:
PLAN OF CAMPBELL TOWN SCHOOL. (1937, September 23). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 7. Retrieved September 23, 2011, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29198046

NEW SCHOOL. (1938, June 22). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 10. Retrieved September 23, 2011, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article25479858 Read More Building Pictures: May 2012

Edificio Lux, Montevideo

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A House on the Golf Links Estate

The Golf Links estate in the Melbourne suburb of Camberwell offers a wonderful variety of interwar house designs. I've written about several Golf Link houses previously and this is another example.

The main design feature are the crazy brick patterns arranged in large semi-circular panels above each of the ground floor windows but I think the most interesting aspect of the decoration is the arrangements of bricks on the gable end of the house.

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Brasilia

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May 6, 2012

The Rutland, Darlinghurst

I like the shape of the decoration on the roofline of The Rutland, an apartment block in Sydney's Darlingurst area. I also like the incised lines on the balconies but why are they such a dull colour? Read More Building Pictures: May 2012

Edificio Tieté, São Paulo

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former Bank of Montreal, Ottawa

This is the former Bank of Montreal building across the road from the Parliament buildings in Ottawa. It was built in 1930 to designs by architect Ernest I Barott. While the overall structure is quite classical the building is ringed by a series of wonderful deco friezes.