Sunday, July 25, 2010

former High Court Building, Melbourne

Vent, former High Court, MelbourneToday during Melbourne Open House I visited the former High Court Building in search of some Art Deco.

The court building was originally designed by John Smith Murdoch and completed in 1928. A second storey was added in 1935 by H J MacKennal and it is here that I found some fixtures very much to my taste.

The vent shown on the left is one of eight, four each on two octagonal light wells breaking through the upper floor.

former High Court Building, Melbourne

On the second floor the skylight and light fixture are bordered with simple geometric patterns.

former High Court Building, Melbourne

I think the lines of the metal railings on the stairs and the tubular steel handrail are my favourite fixture.

former High Court, Melbourne

By the time I got downstairs, they had opened Court Room 3 which has this extraordinary central light fixture.

Light, former High Court, Melbourne

References:
Federal Court of Australia, Victorian Heritage Database.
Walking Melbourne website.

4 comments:

  1. I don't think I have ever seen either the former Australian Army Medical Corps building or the former High Court building. How amazing, since they both have outstanding elements to examine. Thanks for that!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are welcome Helen. The Medical Corp building is a little beauty and the former High Court surprised me when I got there. Good examples of simple deco element in government buildings.

    ReplyDelete