Art Deco Apartments, London

This is one of those cases where I've come across a folder with some pictures of a wonderful but if I ever knew exactly what the building is called then it is long since lost.

I can tell you that this block of apartments is in North London, around the Finchley or Hampstead area I think.

The set of photos is called Riverside so I presume that is the name of the apartments or the street.

Can anyone help?

[Scroll down to see the doors and you'll really want to find out where this building is]

Commercial Hotel, Kaniva

Kaniva is by my reckoning, in the middle of nowhere.

On the Western Highway between Nhill and the South Australian border, it does boast the Commercial Hotel, quite a substantial pub.

I reckon it pre-dates the Art Deco period but I do love this doorway.

553 Rathdowne Street, Carlton

Although the trees and bushes have become a bit too large for the garden and obscure a bit too much of the building but you can still see the beauty of these flats on the corner of Rathdowne and Princes Street, Carlton.

Central Terminal, Buffalo

Yesterday, I wrote about the recently released master plan for the restoration of the Central Terminal in Buffalo, NY and promised some more of my photos, so here they are.

In 1925 a site 2½ miles from downtown Buffalo was selected for the New York Central Railroad terminal. Designed by architects Fellheimer & Wagner it was opened on May 22, 1929 but by 1956 railways were 2nd class citizens to the private car and the Buffalo Central Terminal was in some trouble. It limped along through partial demolitions til the mid 1980s when it was listed in the NY State and National Registers of Historic Places and ceased to provide services for the passing trains.

After many years of neglect the property was transferred to the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation in 1997.

The restoration of the terminal is a huge task after so many years of neglect and lack of use but hopefully the Master Plan can attract funding and see this wonderful opened for re-use.

References:
Central Terminal Restoration Corporation, Inc

Central Terminal, Buffalo

I visited the Central Terminal in 2009 and was blown away by the scale and potential of the abandoned railway terminal. Built too late and in the wrong part of town to capitalise on the railway boom it stands a forlorn beauty.

It was only after my visit that I found out about the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation who have control over the building. So I was very pleased to see that they recently released a master plan for the restoration and adaptive re-use of this magnificant building.

Furthermore, it was great to come across this report from yesterday's Buffalo News that includes a look at the interior, which didn't look as bad as I expected.

I'll post some more of my photos tomorrow.

Haeremai, New Norfolk

With a name such as Haeremai in a place called New Norfolk you are excused for jumping to the conclusion that this modernist house is in New Zealand.

It is, of course, in Tasmania. New Norfolk being in the Derwent Valley, not that far from Hobart. Perhaps a displaced Kiwi has named their house using a variation of the Maori word for Welcome, or it fits the genre of popular housenames such as Ruo Emoh.

2324 Chestnut St, Marina

2324 Chestnut St, Marina, now Crunch Fitness, was originally Victor's Market.

It was designed by Herman C Baumann and built in 1937.

The facade is amazing and I think they've done a reasonably good job putting in a modern awning that echos some of the original design feature but is not intended to look original.

Reference:
Deco by the Bay: Art Deco Architecture in the San Francisco Bay Area ~ Michael F Crowe

Citro Motors, Collingwood

I can't tell you how many times I have been to this workshop at 17 Smith St, Collingwood to have something or other fixed on my old 1976 Citroën Pallas. I don't have that car anymore but I still have a Citroën, albeit a newer model, a C4.

Naturally while I was out walking last weekend I looked across the road at Citro Motors and was taken aback by how good it looked when you aren't driving a crippled car up the driveway. The beautiful blue sky and glorious morning sun helped too.

Clearly the building was built in 1924 and certainly couldn't be described as high Art Deco but it does have some simple charm about it.

I like the simple windows. Those set back into the facade on the upper storey but, also, the one with the diagonal cross above the front door.

It is interesting to note that the only decoration is the two rondels, one either side of the year.

Brockwell Lido, London

During the Art Deco period, exercise and outdoor activity was very much in vogue. The rich and famous had sundecks and roof terraces but lesser mortals had to make do with the beach, public parks and swimming baths or lidos as they were often known in Britain.

In 1937, London County Council upgraded the public bathing facilities at Brockwell Park with the construction of Brockwell Lido replacing an older swimming pond elsewhere in the park.

The buildings were designed in Art Deco style and are now protected with a Grade II listing.

Unfortunately a very similar lido in Victoria Park, Hackney which opened a year earlier, closed in the 1980s and has been demolished.

References:
Brockwell Lido website
LIDOS IN LONDON no longer open: Victoria Park Lido, Hackney
News in a Nutshell - London's New Lido Opened at Victoria Park, British Pathé, 21 May 1936

Flats, Perth

Streamline flats in Perth, Western Australia

A Building in Milton/Sittingbourne

I snapped this little building in 2000 or 2001 in Kent, England. If I took any notes of what the sign says then they are long lost. The only clue I have is the small foundation stone near the door that reads :

H H Scattergood
Chairman
1934

A search of the internet reveals the Sittingbourne, Milton, and District Directory 1908/09 that lists an H Scattergood as a member of the Milton Bowling Club Committeee and also a Mr H H Scattergood as Secretary & Collector of the Milton & Sittingbourne Horticultural Society. So I have made the assumption that this building is around the Milton/Sittingbourne district.

References:
Sittingbourne, Milton, and District Directory 1908/09, Reprinted 1980 by W.J. Parrett Ltd, Sittingbourne, hosted by rootsweb

Phoenix Cleaners, Tulsa

Phoenix Cleaners, Tulsa (1947).

Reference:
Phoenix Cleaners Building, Tulsa Preservation Commission

Baredna, Cape Town

This is a very interesting block of flats in Cape Town and not only beacuse of the name, Baredna. Is it Bar-Edna, Ba-Red-na or even Bare-DNA? No doubt the architect, Alexander Stewart Cruickshank, could tell us what the name meant when the flats were built in 1939.

Now let's look at some of the features of the buildng. Firstly, they are asymetrical because of the corner site allowing Cruickshank to place the place the windows cutting through the near-corner of the building.

Then we can see that the curved balconies on either side of the central tower were once open but now only one on the upper two floors remains so.

The tower has two squared columns running up the section of glass bricks with three crossbands near the roofline.

Interestingly the name is not rendered on the central tower but on the right section of the building between the conventional residential windows.

Finally, a glimpse of some of the attention to detail with this little railing in the stairwell.

Reference:
Baredna Flat, Artefacts.com.za

King Ethelbert School, Birchington-on-Sea

King Ethelbert School in Birchington-on-Sea

A House in Devonport

This is a house in Devonport, Tasmania caught in the early morning light.

I especially like the circle motif that is included in the metalwork of the fence, gate and railings on the steps up to the front door.

It is even featured at window-level on the chimney.

Merri Park Sports Ground, Northcote

This gateway was erected in 1937 to commemorate the opening of the Merri Park Sports Ground. The curving stepped metal railings are pure Art Deco.

Roosevelt Middle School, San Francisco

In 1928 San Francisco architects, Miller and Pflueger, won the bid to bid a new building for the Roosevelt Junior High School.

They choose to build the school using brick, a rare choice after the 1906 earthquake, and were probably influenced by the Dutch Expressionist buildings and the Dutch Pavilion at the 1925 Paris Exposition.

The building opened in August 1930 and as the Roosevelt Middle School is still used for education today.

References:
Art Deco San Francisco: The Architecture of Timothy Pflueger, Therese Poletti

Drinking Fountain, Carlton North

Unlike yesterday's sad example, this drinking fountain is in much better condition. Perhaps because it is in Curtain Square, a park just off busy Rathdowne St in Carlton North, it has avoided the worst of any vandalous attacks.

The inscription on this fountain reads

PRESENTED TO THE
CITIZENS OF MELBOURNE
BY
ALDERMAN
SIR WM. BRUNTON KB
(LORD MAYOR OF MELBOURNE 1923-26)
1930

Disused Drinking Fountain, Northcote.

A deco drinking fountain, non-operating, near the corner of St Georges Road and Merri Parade in Northcote.

Once it held a place of honour in the community and provided a function of drinking water for walkers and cyclists using the nearby Merri Creek Trail. Now it is unloved and unused.

A plaque on the other side reads

Erected by Citizens of Northcote
In Memory of
Cr Joseph Henry Green JP
Elected 27.6.1927 Mayor Year 1930-31
Died 22.9.1939

I wonder what those citizens and the late Cr Green's family would think of it now.

Ararat Hotel, Ararat

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

Maller's Flats, Carlton North

These flats at the corner of Sutton St and Fenwick St, Carlton North were built in 1942 for Leba Maller.

As with flats and houses from this period in other parts of Melbourne different colour bricks are used as highlights. There is a line of dark bricks on the low wall and columns surrounding the property. Also on the facade of almost at the bottom of the upper and lower storey windows, at the top of the windows and on the chimney.

You may also have noticed the curved wall around the entrance and the stairwell constructed completely of dark manganese bricks that make this building unique in Carlton North, possibly all of Carlton, Melbourne or perhaps even the whole world.

Reference:
City of Yarra Review of Heritage Precincts 2007, Graeme Butler and Associates, p291