In 1934 Victoria celebrated the centenary of European settlement in grand style. A royal visit was planned with Prince George representing his father King George V however his engagement to Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark meant that his brother Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, came to Australia instead.
The Board of the Homoeopathic Hospital, which had been founded in Spring St in 1869 before moving to St Kilda Road in the 1880s, had considered changing the name of the hospital to Prince George's however the change of visiting royal saw it become Prince Henry's. It was demolished sixty years after this change of name in 1994.
The Royal Visit led to a lot of concern about where the party would land and how they would be conveyed to Melbourne. St Kilda believed that the Prince should land at their pier and make his way to the City along Melbourne's grand boulevard, St Kilda Road. Port Melbourne argued that their piers were the gateway to Melbourne and it was fitting that the Prince should be landed there.
The argument raged back and forth during the early part of 1933 with the foreshore at Port Melbourne considered a dreary wasteland and not beautiful enough to welcome a member of the Royal Family. A grand Centenary Boulevard via Williamstown Road or Beaconsfield Parade was proposed but was abandoned by September 1933 when the Chief Commissioner of Railways, Mr H Clapp, pointed out that a level crossing was inappropriate for the amount of rail traffic accessing Station & Princes Piers at Port Melbourne.
As early as 1924, the Melbourne Harbor Trust (MHT) had proposed that Port Melbourne Council (PMC) that they should build a bridge over the pier with all interested parties contributing to the cost. MHT offered to pay half the cost but Council rejected the idea saying it was entirely a matter for the MHT.
With the Centenary Boulevard proposal a non-starter, the possibility of a bridge was resurrected and
The Record, 23 Dec 1933, reported that 12 designs for a bridge at Port Melbourne had been proposed. The cost would be £60,000 with MHT prepared to meet ⅔ of the cost if the Government found the remaining ⅓ and vested certain land to the MHT.
The Record, 17 Feb 1934, reported that 20 men had begun preparations for the new bridge the previous Monday. The following edition reported that 30 men had started work on the western ramp of the bridge itself.
In May, the MHT requested PMC to pay for roadworks in connection with Centenary Bridge. Council refused claiming that the MHT had changed the alignment of the road without consultation and therefore it was not Council's responsibility.
Things seemed to be looking up in June when an ad in
The Record stated 'Make a bee(r) line for The London Hotel right at the foot of the new bridge'. June and July, however, also saw further correspondence between Port Council and the MHT regarding the roadworks with the issue now deadlocked and neither party wishing to take responsibility for the costs.
At least one issue had been resolved. In April it was confirmed that Prince Henry would land at Port Melbourne. The Mayor of St Kilda, Cr Burnett gray sending a personal letter of congratulations to PMC.
The Prince disembarked from the Sussex at Princes Pier on 18 Oct 1934. A reception by PMC was planned at Stokes Street before he would be driven along Beaconsfield Parade to St Kilda, then up Fitzroy Street and along St Kilda Road to the Melbourne Town Hall.
During his time in Melbourne, Prince Henry also opened the newly constructed
Shirne of remembrance. He departed on 12 Nov 1934 but not before thousands of people flocked to Port Melbourne to see the warships Sussex, Canberra, Dunedin, Diomede and Augusta over the previous weekend.
The saga of Centenary Bridge did not end with the Royal Visit. The roadworks for the approaches to the bridge were not resolved and the eastern ramp sat at a strange angle to the existing road.
In March 1935, Cr J P Crichton drew Council's attention to the unsatisfactory state of road on the eastern approach of new bridge and moved that PMC ask MHT to finish the job.
In fact it was worse than that. The Railways had got involved soon after the Royal Visit and had closed the approach to the bridge, since it was their land and they required the MHT to meet certain conditions before the bridge could be re-opened.
Almost a year after Prince Henry had been driven over Centenary Bridge it was still not open to the public.
The Record reported on 12 Oct 1935 that the approach to the bridge was going to be made. After several conferences between PMC and the MHT a compromise had been reached. They would share the estimated costs of £800.
Even this is not the end of the story. In February 1936,
The Record reported that the road on the western side of the bridge connecting the bridge with Williamstown Road was still blocked. Traffic was routed along Swallow Street which was unsuitable for the volume of cars using the bridge. The City Engineer proposed improvements to Swallow Street to relieve the congestion and the issue disappeared somewhat until later that year.
The Record, 5 Dec 1936 reported that the road connecting Williamstown Road with Port Melbourne beach was open, but not officially. It had taken over 2 years from Prince Henry's visit to complete the project due to the wrangling between the Railways, Port Melbourne Council and the Melbourne Harbor Trust.
The bridge itself had some art deco feature especially the pylons on the approaches to the bridge, the street lamps and the stairways down the the Port Melbourne railway station and Station Pier. The pylons and lamps included the hexagonal monogram of the MHT.
Centenary Bridge may even have been unique in its design. From the air it resembled a large aeroplane with the normal span of the bridge over the railway line forming the 'wings'. The unusual part of the design comes from a third roadway that ran from the apex of the bridge onto Station Pier forming the 'fuselage'.
It was an amazing bridge and just about impossible to photograph. You could never get far enough away from it and still have a clear view.
You've notice I am using the past tense.
Centenary Bridge was demolished in 1991 by the State Government.
All that remains is one of the pylons on the eastern approach to Station Pier opposite The London Hotel. Obviously they didn't think something that commemorated the centenary of the State was worth preserving.
It will be interesting to see what the people of 2034 think of this as they celebrate the bicentennial. Perhaps as an old man I can tell anyone who is interested what this marvellous bridge was like and pass on what the older Port residents are telling me now about what the area was like when Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester came to town and caused a bridge to be built in Port Melbourne.
The Beach Dressing Pavillion on the Esplanade in Williamstown was built in 1936 and now provides the setting for Sirens Restaurant and Bistro.
The 1931 earthquake that brought so much destruction to the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand also created a new suburb.
A lot of the houses in Marewa were built as single storey modernist buildings. Often rendered and painted white or a pale colour with simple stylised decoration. Low walls were also common, setting the boundary of the property without obscuring the house.
The house above has very simple geometric decoration on the corners near the roofline and a fantastic lamp in the front garden styled as a lighthouse.
A line just below the roofline with a stepped kink at the corners is just about the only decoration although it does continue around the side of the house. 
A series of simple, triangle based, elements provide the house with its decorative signature. The door is recessed into a deep porch and the steps in front of the door, although not visible in my photo, sit out from the front of the house taking up half the width of the path leading from the driveway.
The city of Napier, on New Zealand's North Island, is a deco lovers delight. Most of the town was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931 and the subsequent rebuilding program was mostly completed in Art Deco style.
It is in Taradale, New Zealand and it is one of only two Art Deco McDonald's that I know of.
I believe one of the arguments used to persuade McDonald's was the fact that the building is included in Art Deco Napier: Styles of the thirties
a very popular book by Peter Shaw & Peter Hallett which has undergone several reprints. 
Bands of different coloured bricks provide decoration on the ground floor. 
Massawa is a port city on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea. It is hot, dusty and suffered a lot of damage during the Eritrean Struggle with Ethiopia.
It doesn't help the general outlook of the building when all the wooden shutters are closed against the heat of the day.
The Misi Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma occupy a modest art deco building away from the downtown area.
When I was exploring the Sun Theatre this morning I spent most time taking photos in The Grand.
Occupying the original stalls area of The Sun, this cinema has the most original art deco features. The picture above shows the amazing decorations of the walls near what is now the front of the auditorium. 
This picture shows it off a bit better including the metal ring ‘fence’ which separates the seating from the walls. It is a grand space in many ways.
I’ve written previously about my favourite cinema, the Sun Theatre in Yarraville. I also wrote that I had the chance to explore the complex without the inconvenience of any audiences in the cinemas.
The original balcony of the Sun has been converted into The Barkly, named after a former cinema in nearby Footscray. Some of the original decoration has survived on the walls in this area of the building and this was one of the first areas to be restored and re-opened for the screening of films when the owners Michael & Anne Smith formed The Sun Film Society in the mid 1990s.
Next door is a small cinema called The Trocadero named after another former Footscray cinema. The decoration in this cinema reflects the original features that survived elsewhere in the building. The curtains and central light are fantastic and although I do like to see the original deco features in the Barkly, I am not disappointed when the session is scheduled for this lovely space.
I went to the Sun Theatre early this morning, very early for a Sunday anyway. The Art Deco Society had organised a showing of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day starting at 10:15 and before that there was morning tea but more importantly, the cinemas were open for us to explore.
As much as possible of the original decoration was saved and restored. The picture above shows an amazing column in the foyer. The decoration near the ceiling could be stylised clouds especially when viewed directly from below as seen in the picture on the left. 
I didn't get the chance to see a lot of Art Deco in the short time I was in Nairobi but I did manage to snap this from the mini-bus as it whisked me through the mental traffic.
The Connaught Theatre in Worthing, on the south coast of England, is an earlier building that received a deco makeover in the 1930s.
On the right there is a side entrance built into a curved section of the building with a great curved metal framed window. The other end of the building truncated at the end of the rectangular wing.
When I vist a town I really enjoy exploring the streets just to see what I can find. In Calais, I found this apartment. It is not much from a deco point of view but if you look carefully you'll notice there a couple of relief panels in the red brick facade.
The main sports in Melbourne are cricket in the summer and football in the winter so it is not surprising that the change rooms in Fawkner Park carry panels representing these two sports. What is marvellous for me is that these panels have been done in an art deco style.
The footy panel is my favourite. It is rare to see Australian Rules Football represented in deco style and this shows one of the most exciting aspects of the game. Under ominous clouds a player leaps for a high mark while the defender tries to punch the ball away. He almost takes on a ballet pose as he attempts to spoil the mark. Behind him, in the distance, the unmistakable four posts of an Aussie Rules goal.
In 1908 TJ West opened the Olympia cinema in a former ice skating rink in Hindley St, Adelaide. For the next 30 or so years it hosted films and vaudeville acts until West decided to rebuild it as a modern cinema using architects Evans, Bruer & Hall in association with Sydney ‘cinema specialists’ Crick & Furse. 
Curving staircases hug the walls leading up to the mezzanine level punctuated by matching mirrors on each side which reach almost from floor to ceiling. The mirrors are etched with a series of wavy lines that echo the wave of the staircase banister.
The Bank of Ireland Buildings dominate the view along Royal Avenue in Belfast. It dates from 1928 by architects McDonnell and Dixon. 
The metal work on main doors to the bank offer a pleasant art deco pattern. Simple rectangles supporting a vertical line of chevrons with a gold coloured piece at the bottom of each one. 
Another doorway along the side of the buildings is identified by the name of the bank shown in relief above it and again, like the main entrance, the name is highlighted in black. Further above the name of the bank, a relief of a stylised face provides further decoration.
Electricity came to Port Melbourne around 1911 and the local council set up their own Electricity Supply Department. Even when the State Electricity Commission (SEC) ran most of Victoria's supply, Port Melbourne along with several other inner-city municipalities continued to run their own departments until the early 1990s when the statewide Electricity supply was privatised.
The Labworth Cafe on Canvey Island is a wonderful modernist concrete building overlooking the Thames. 
On my recent visit to Adelaide I was lucky to be invited to this amazing Art Deco house. This photo shows the large porch area at the front of the house. It is certainly a very striking feature and provides a large balcony area from the upstairs rooms.
Inside the features are more or less intact although they have been renovated in recent years. Many of the rooms have built-in furniture and ornate decoration on the ceilings and cornices. 
For instance the kitchen light (above left) is over the built-in banquette seating area rather than the centre of the room. I think it looks a bit weird, here particularly, but worked quite well in one of the bedrooms where the man light was over the dressing table with additional light coming from a wall fixture above the bed. It does allow us to take in all the beautiful Art Deco detail of the ceiling decoration.
The house also had its fair share of terrazzo. The entrance porches but front and rear had beautiful terrazzo floors. The small area at the back door had a design which may have been just a geometric pattern but could also be interpreted as Chris Smith’s initials. The bathroom upstairs also has a colourful terrazzo floor (left) which the owners showed with a dramatic pause before throwing open the dark wooden door. It certainly had the desired effect.
Perhaps in an effort to outdo the floor, the line of tiles halfway up the wall provide an amazing zig-zag of colours. The total effect is mind-blowing.
