Apartments, Elizabeth Bay

Don't ask! I don't know if these flats in Sydney have a name. In fact I can't remember exactly where they are but I'm fairly sure they are in Elizabeth Bay. Fantastic brickwork, typical of Sydney deco buildings and a lovely little circular porch. I'll find it again one day and take more notice and see if the building has a name.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

This is one of the most iconic structures in the world, the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It took a long time to complete a bridge between the CBD and North Sydney. As early as 1815 Francis Greenway proposed a across the harbour and a royal commission in 1890 led to the construction of a series of bridges to help relieve the heavy level of ferry traffic on the harbour. These bridges may have helped for a while but by the turn of the 20th Century proposals for a new bridge were requested. It took eleven years for a formal proposal to be accepted and another year before John Bradfield was appointed as the Chief Engineer of the bridge project. Bradfield completed a design for the bridge in 1916 but mainly due to the effects of the First World War the plans were shelved until 1922.

The construction period started in 1923 with the demolition of 800 homes and proceeded for almost a decade before the Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened on 19 March 1932, first, unofficially by Captain Francis de Groot, a member of the New Guard, a right-wing paramilitary group and then shortly afterwards, officially, by Jack Lang, the Premier of New South Wales.

Today, the bridge is a major tourist attraction and the centrepoint of Sydney's New Year's Eve fireworks display. You can even climb to the top.

Reference:
SydneyHarbourBridge.com.au

Piccadilly Hotel, Potts Point

The Piccadilly Hotel in Victoria Street, Potts Point isn't looking its best in my pic from a few years ago but I wonder what the VIP Lounge is like inside.

Chatsbury, Elizabeth Bay

This is Chatsbury (1939), an eclectic block of flats at 6 Ithaca Road, Elizabeth Bay in Sydney. It really does have a bit of everything. A partially castellated roofline, small semi-circular balconies, curved wings at each end and rectangular sections stepping back into the block allow the creation of a wonderful Art Deco entrance.

Reference:
Art Deco Society of NSW

Frogs, North Sydney

Frogs at North Sydney swimming pool.

former Festival Records Building, Pyrmont

Is this perhaps the most beautiful IGA supermarket in Sydney?

Formerly Wakefield House, it was designed by architects Crane & Scott and built in 1939 for Castrol Australia.

In the mid 1960s it became Festival Records Recording Studio 'A'. Australian artists Kylie Minogue, Yothu Yindi, Cold Chisel & Peter Allen recorded in this building which was also used by international artists such as Bob Dylan, Neil Sedaka, Tom Petty, Julio Iglesias & Stevie Nicks.

The building is heritage listed and was remodelled for mixed commercial use several years ago.

Reference:
Festival Records Building, 63-79 Miller Street, Pyrmont, NSW, Australia Heritage Database

West End, Potts Point

West End, a block of flats at the end of Crick Avenue in Sydney's Potts Point.

10 Tusculum Street, Potts Point

These apartments at 10 Tusculum Street,Potts Point has a fantastic Art Deco entrance and door.

Portree, Sydney

This is Portree, an apartment block in Sydney.

I see it as a very Sydney building ... mostly because of the use of dark bricks. That just seems to be a Sydney thing.

The dark bricks work really well as a backdrop for the rendered white open balconies and central tower.

Community Restorative Centre, Chippendale

The Community Restorative Centre (CRC) provide a range of support services to prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families and friends.

They also live in this former bank, dating from 1933, on the corner of Broadway & Shephard Street, Chippendale in Sydney, NSW.

Hotel Broadway, Chippendale

Thankfully when they converted part of this Art Deco pub in Sydney into apartments (and added some more onto the roof) they kept the old Hotel Broadway sign.

It is still a pub, well there is a cafe/bar on the ground floor and the building is in a prime location on Broadway in Chippendale.

I didn't have time even to pop across and look inside but I imagine anything deco would have been stripped from the public areas.

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?

Mansions Hotel, Kings Cross

The roofline of the Mansions Hotel is Kings Cross, Sydney is a wonderful confection of rectangles and curves.

The circular tower right on top of the building with a vertical arrow slit is an interesting feature and it is lovely to see the top balconies still open.

And note the typical use of glass bricks arranged in a vertical panel stretching most of the height of the building, presumably to provide light for the stairwell.

Cahors, Potts Point

Cahors is a large block of flats in Macleay St, Potts Point, at the top end in Sydney's King's Cross area.

It was built in 1940 and designed by architects Joseland and Gilling. The State Library of NSW has a series of b+w photos taken around the time construction was completed.

Most of the building is free of decoration but at the top few floors there are panels bearing geometric Art Deco patterns. The tops of the three main brick columns on the building are capped with rounded structures, stepped back towards the flat face of the facade.

At ground level the entrance to the flats and the fronts of the two small shops have been finished with light blue tiles. They curve into the three doors along the street, the flats and the two shops, and extend above the canopy of the porch covering the central part of the first storey.

The windows above the entrance to the flats and on the central windows on the first floor above that contain amber glass and the decoration is completed with the name 'CAHORS' spelt out in large gold letters.

References:
Art Deco Sociey of New South Wales
State Library of New South Wales

Kanimbla Hall, Potts Point

This is Kanimbla Hall, a piece of Sydney confection at 19-19a Tusculum Street, Potts Point.

Unfortunately I don't know when it was built or who was the architect but it is a large residential block with a simple roofline and curved section on the corner of the building.

At nice touch, I presume added at a later date, are the metal bars on the ground floor windows are in a sunburst pattern. As are the fence and gates at the garden area between the wings of the building.

Oxford Art Supplies, Darlinghurst

I don't know what is more impressive about the 225 Oxford St half of Oxford Art Supplies. The amazing geometric pattern on the facade or the amazing collection of air conditioners on top of the verandah.

And I don't know what is less impressive. The appalling remodelled shopfront at street level or the appalling collection of air conditioners on top of the verandah.

I do know that the business which started as a hardware store in 1964 run by Alf and Bessie Altshuler morphed into an art store in the 1970's under their son David and their grandson, Marc, is associated with the store today. That, at least, is a good thing.

Reference:
Oxford Art Supplies website

Huntingdon, Elizabeth Bay

This is another one of those red brick Art Deco apartment blocks in Sydney. This is Huntingdon in Elizabeth Bay and I am not sure about the awning over the entrance bearing the block's name. I presume it is a later addition and I suppose it is a deco font but seems a bit cliched to me.

However, I do like the brickwork. Again a common feature of Sydney, and in fact Australian, Art Deco.

Pioneer House, Chippendale

Broadway in Chippendale was widened in the early 1930s leading to a series of Art Deco style buildings being constructed.

Pioneer House, designed in 1934 by Wright & Apperly, is one such building.

The ground floor has been altered so there is no longer a bank or the shops opening onto the street. I don't know if the decoration has been modified from the original installation but the colour scheme is a bit dull for me.

The decoration along the roofline, on the other hand, is stunning, especially when lit by the mid-winter late afternoon Sydney sunshine.

There are several different decorative panels and each spandrel has a series of ridges and bars. There is decoration above the windows including a shaft of triangular windows stretching amost the height of the building from the central entrance.

References:
Pioneer House Significance Statement, Heritage Branch, Dept of Planning, NSW
Deco-Blog, DecoWorks Pty Ltd

The Wroxton, Elizabeth Bay

The is the Wroxton in Elizabeth Bay, Sydney. I like the combination of the horizontal bands of the balconies and the vertical columns of windows on either side. It is also really nice to see that none of the balconies have been enclosed which is too often the case.

Great Southern Hotel, Sydney

The Great Southern Hotel (1940), George St designed by Virgil Cizzio

Reference: A Spirit of Progress - Art Deco Architecture in Australia, Parick Van Daele & Roy Lumby