Municipality, Asmara

Planned during the 1930s, the Municipality Building in Liberation Avenue, Asmara was built in the 1950s with the third storey being added in 1971.

The dominant feature of the building is the clock tower above the entrance faced with a crazy crackle mosaic pattern of green tiles (see close up view below). The tower protrudes from the main bulk of the central section of the building which is slightly taller and set back from the main face. The clock tower and central sections were heightened when the third storey was added to maintain the overall balance.

The symetrical wings consist of five windows for each floor with the ground storey windows half the height of the upper floors. The Municipality is set back from the street with a small wall and hedge surrounding a simple garden. The gateway marked with four pillars each topped with a spherical lamp.

The Municipality Building is a majestic landmark in central Asmara.

Reference:
Asmara: Africa's Secret Modernist City~ Edward Denison, Guang Yu Ren & Naigzy Gebremedhim

Bartlesville High School, Oklahoma

Bartlesville High School was designed by architect John Duncan Forsyth and it was build in 1939. That year is displayed above the central door of the main entrance with BHS above the doors to the left and the right. Just to the right of the entrance there is a large tower with a flagpole on the near corner. The flagpole is connected to the bulk of the tower with seven short horizontal bands which wrap around the square corner.

Further to the right is the auditorium marks by the three tall columns horizontal windows. Inside the auditorium has nice clean lines and simple decoration including bands of green and white on the lower part of the walls and a geometric deco design on the sides of the rows of seats. The door plates on many of the doors inside also have a stepped deco design.

To the left of the main entrance the building continues with large horizontal window on ground level that wrap around the corner as the next part of the building is stepped back. The second storey windows consist of five vertical columns contrasting the windows below and complementing the vertical windows which make up most of the next part of the building.

That part of the school has thin columns of windows reaching almost the full height of the wall giving way to a graceful curved wall at the end of the main block with three horizontal windows and Senior High School spelt out above. The rest of the building stretching around the corner is again made up of thin vertical columns of windows.

Bartlesville High School is a fantastic streamline Art Deco building. It’s a shame it was such a rainy day when I got to this part of Oklahoma. It would have been nice to capture the white school against a beautiful blue sky.

Cinema Impero, Asmara

Cinema Impero in Liberation Avenue is probably the most striking of Asmara’s four Art Deco cinemas. It was designed by Mario Messina and built in 1937.

Forty-five round lights decorate the front with the name Cinema Impero spelt out vertically in illuminated letters. It certainly is a landmark building, especially at night. Several pairs of doors lead into the cinema. Each door an impressive large semi-circular handle forming a full circle with its partner when both are closed.

I blagged my way in to check out the auditorium and was not disappointed. Initially I was a bit freaked out standing in the pitch black empty space but it was all worth it when the lights came on. The back wall had stylized Art Deco reliefs of impala, while along the side walls there were more reliefs of dancing figures and palm trees. A cordon of squat poles with lion’s heads on top creates symbolic separation of the seats from the movie screen.

People started coming in for the next session so I returned to the foyer and left offering sincere thanks to the guys sitting beside the doors.

In my opinion, Cinema Impero is one of the great cinemas of the world.

Reference:
Asmara: Africa's Secret Modernist City~ Edward Denison, Guang Yu Ren & Naigzy Gebremedhim

Mosman Park Memorial Hall, Perth

The original building was designed by architect RG Oldman in 1921. It housed the local Council Chamber and offices and had a hall which was used for showing silent films. In 1939 architects Kreightmeyer & Rowe significantly altered the building to become a great Art Deco building including a modern cinema.

The Council moved out to new premises in 1966 and the building was used as a Reception Centre. Today the Memorial Hall is managed by the Mosman Park Arts Foundation. Near derelict in the 1990s, it has been restored in all its Art Deco glory and forms the centre of MosArts activities including arts classes, gallery, theatre and the Camelot outdoor cinema.

On end of the building is a semi-circular tower topped with a large fin bearing the name ‘Memorial Hall’. The fin is highlighted by four short horizontal lines on the face of the tower. Below this are three horizontal bands which wrap around the curve of the tower and continue onto the recessed part of the building above the main entrance.

This part of the building has geometric decoration consisting of two rectangular fins with six short bands intersecting across the fins. The bands are semi-circular sitting out from the face of the building. Two horizontal bands lead the eye from the stepped back section of the building to the decoration above the second entrance.

This decoration is similar to the first except there are only four semi-circular bands and there is a flagpole between the fins.

From here a single horizontal band sweeps around the simple curved corner and along the side of the building. A window set high in the wall also curves around the corner.

I like the way the architects have identified the building with the large fin on the semi-circular tower then marked each entrance with a decoration on the roofline and used the horizontal banding to link these elements together.

Alfa Romeo Building, Asmara

The render is falling off exposing the rough breeze block bricks below. The lamps either side of the doorway are broken and the sad flagpoles have seen better days. One is bent at an odd angle while the other has been snapped off just above the roofline. But look Asmara’s Alfa Romeo building in the face and you can’t help but fall in love with her.

The familiar Alfa Romeo script is still there in silver against the yellow of the building’s façade. The modest door is surrounded by a huge red rendered frame and the broken lights looks like bells and retain a certain Art Deco charm. The supports for the flagpoles are arranged as two separate groupings of four metal bands providing simple elegant and function decoration.

It probably dates from the mid 1930s and one day, I hope someone will add some polish and turn her back into a true Art Deco gem.




Reference:
Asmara: Africa's Secret Modernist City~ Edward Denison, Guang Yu Ren & Naigzy Gebremedhim

Woodville Hotel, Adelaide

The Woodville Hotel is one of a number of Art Deco buildings on the Port Road in Adelaide, South Australia.

The name of the hotel is spelt out in the front in a typical Art Deco font and vertically on the large fin or sail but in a different style. A covered balcony provides a shaded outdoor seating area while the verandah over the footpath provides shade for the ground floor windows. The verandah has press tin cladding in a deco zig-zag pattern.

This photo is my favourite view of the hotel. The curved ends of the building itself and the verandah contrast nicely with the straighter angles of the large fin and the stepped roofline up to the chimney.

I also like the contrast of the raw red brick against the blue-gray rendered parts of the building.

In a way, the Woodville Hotel looks like a ship sailing along the road towards Port Adelaide.

Muller’s Optomerists, Cape Town

Muller’s Optomerists is a great little Art Deco in downtown Cape Town. The original building was built around the turn of the 20th century with the front added around 1920.

The combination of silver chrome and black surrounds really makes the front of this shop.

The door combines glass, and metalwork in a very stylish way. The bottom part of the door is metal, I guess to guard against an errant foot while the top two thirds are is glass with a thin metal frame dividing the pane and creating an overall curved look. Having it set into the curved edge of the building allows Muller’s to take ownership of their corner.

Beside the door and on the side of the building is a fantastic silver deco ornament. A conglomeration of geometric shapes topped with a pair of round spectacles.

Also along the side there are bands of silver lines. One 'steps' between the upper and lower windows while a second underlines the lower series of showcase windows.

Muller's is a modest building but it packs a lot of style.

Prince of Wales Hotel, St Kilda

Originally a guesthouse in the 1860s, The Prince of Wales Hotel on the corner of Fitzroy and Acland Streets in the Melbourne seaside suburb of St Kilda is an institution. The current building, dating from 1936, was designed by architect R.H. McIntyre.

I remember the POW as a great place to see bands, it still is. Since the building was remodelled as The Prince Complex in 1999, it has managed to retain it’s link with the St Kilda people and The Prince Bandroom still features the best of Alternative music.

The building itself is four storeys tall with three streamline balconies which emphasis the horizontal lines of the facade. The corner is rather plain but the tower above the entrance is topped with simple geometric decoration and a flagpole.

If you are interested in reading more about St Kilda hotels, The St Kilda Historical Society has produced a book called Pots, Punks and Punters A History of the Hotels in St Kilda and South Melbourne