John W McCormack Post Office & Court House, Boston

This imposing structure is the 1933 Federal Building in Post Office Square, Boston. It was designed by the Boston firm of Cram & Ferguson in collaboration with the US Treasury.

In 1972 it was renamed the John W McCormack Post Office & Court House for the former Speaker of the House of Representatives who came from Boston.

Panels on the upper positions of each wing of the building feature stylised eagles and the corners carry fasces, an ancient symbol of power.

As is common with Art Deco buildings, the doors and surrounding entrance are well decorated.

A stylised eagle is carved into the black granite above the doors.

And above that the decoration continues on the columns and the metalwork on the windows.

Powerful and imposing, just as you would expect a government building to be.

Boston Arts Academy/Fenway High School, Fenway

The Fenway High School was founded in 1983 as a separate academic program for 90 students who were disengaged from high school. In 1998, after becoming a full-fledged Pilot school, it moved to 174 Ipswich Street, which it shares with the Boston Arts Academy. The Arts Academy is Boston's only public high school for the visual and performing arts. It was founded in 1998.

I wonder what the building was originally?

References:
Fenway High School website
Boston Arts Academy website

Hudson Building, Boston

This is the Hudson Building at 75 Kneeland Street, across from Boston's Chinatown. It was built in 1928 and designed by Krokyn & Browne. The building has a very impressive Art Deco entrance.

Recently the building was part of the Tufts Medical Center but I'm not sure this is still the case.

References:
The Hudson Building, Art Deco Society of Boston
The Hudson Building, Waymarking.com

Paramount Theatre, Boston

Cold night time view of the Paramount Theatre in Washington Street, Boston. Designed by Arthur H Bowditch and constructed 1930-32.

Reference: Boston Virtual Art Deco Tour, Art Deco Society of Boston

Merry Christmas from NYC

I've never seen so many people crowded into the few blocks surrounding Radio City Music Hall and the Rockefeller Center in New York but then I've never been there on Boxing Day. The footpaths were packed with people ready to enjoy the Rockettes' Radio City Christmas Spectacular and Donald Deskey's luscious deco interiors.

Around the corner at the Rockefeller Center ice rink it was just as crazy as people clamoured for a view of the skaters, or to pose in front of the christmas tree.

Then every few minutes they'd turn their cameras toward the festive light show on the façade of Saks, Fifth Avenue store.

Building in Avenida Belgrano, Buenos Aires

Avenida Belgrano, Buenos Aires

A House in Hamilton

Hamilton's Gray Street isn't just a shopping strip. As in many rural towns the main streets turn residential once you are out of the central commercial zone. and that's where you'll find this Art Deco house.

Scullion's, Hamilton

Just what did the people of Hamilton, a fairly major town in the rural Western District of Victoria, think when Melbourne architects, Seabrook & Fildes, proposed this amazing shopfront for their main shopping strip in Gray Street. It was 1938, or perhaps a little before that, and Seabrook & Fildes, who were very active in Hamilton in the interwar period, used one of their favourite motifs, a glass brick tower.

Around the same time they had also included a glass brick tower as part of their alterations to the George Hotel, a bit further along Gray Street. To counterbalance the tower, the other side of the building featured a pair of Art Deco bands curving down towards the verandah.

At street level, the shopfront featured lovely curved glass display windows.

References:
Victorian Heritage Database, Scullion's, Hamilton
Victorian Heritage Database, The George Hotel, Hamilton

The Bund, Shanghai

This is a nice section of The Bund in Shanghai. The building in the centre with the clock towers the Customs House. To the left of that is the dome of the The Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank while on this side there is a lovely little white deco building, the former Bank of Communications. Closest to the camera is another bank building, the Central China Bank. Finally sitting in the background is the modern Bund Financial Centre with it's illuminated crown.

Edifício Ribeiro Moreira, Copacabana

There are some fabulous apartment blocks in Copacabana. This is Edifício Ribeiro Moreira built in 1928.

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.

Mangatainoko Hall

Free Ambulance Building, Wellington

This is the former Wellington Free Ambulance Building catching the late afternoon sun. The Wellington Free Ambulance service was founded in 1928 by Sir Charles Norwood, businessman, philanthropist and Mayor of Wellington 1925-27. It was the only free ambulance service in New Zealand.

This building was constructed in 1932 to the design by William Turnbull and the service used it until new premises were constructed in Thorndon in 1994.

Since then it has had a variety of uses and is now a bar.

Reference:
Art Deco Heritage Trail booklet, Wellington City Council 1996 (2nd Ed. 2005)

Doors of Montevideo - Part III

This last one isn't a door, but it is an entrance to the seating area of Montevideo's Estadio Centenario where Uruguay won the first Football World Cup in 1930. How good is this deco plaque celebrating that achievement.