The Ararat Hotel, in Barkly Street, Ararat was built around the end of 1939 or the start of 1940. It must have caused quite a stir when it arrived in rural Victoria just a war was starting.
The main features are the large fins supporting the curved balconies about the main doorway.
Also there is a decorative Art Deco panel above each of the windows.
I'll have to go back when it is open and have a beer. All in the name of research, of course, to see if there is any decoration inside.
Reference:
Landmark Disappearing, COUNTRY NEWS. (1939, June 9). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848-1954), p9
Retrieved March 4, 2011, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12137293
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WOW, isn't that stunning! I bet there was a real love/hate reaction from the locals!
ReplyDeleteI love the horizontal lines, too -- now there must be a name for those?
Great find! The fins are quite like vertical blade on almost all Deco picture theatres except these fins are HUGE. Plus the fins are not just decorative - they seem to be holding up two balconies.
ReplyDeleteThanks Helen & Toni.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame the speedlines are partly covered by painted over (?) Carlton Draught signs.
Wonderful piece. Those fins make it seem like the building will take off in motion!
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan. A different scale, of course, but I think the Ararat Hotel shows just how widely the Art Deco style was adopted from Europe to New York and rural Australia.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting building, I don't think I recall seeing curves jutting out that far in a Modernist building before, it's what makes the Modernist period so interesting, there is always something out of the ordinary to grab ones attention.
ReplyDeleteThanks Thomas, the architects from the Modernist period, I think more than at any time before, were able to take elements from around the world and modify and adapt them to their own designs so they form a recognisable style within a wide variety of buildings.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Ararat and remember kids from my class selling the Herald to hotel patrons as they left to go home. I never went inside myself, but I think my dad had a beer or two there :)
ReplyDeleteThanks bookgrrl. I'm sure a lot of Ararat dads had a beer or two there :)
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