Lincoln Street Ventilation Stack, Highgate

This imposing art deco tower is in the Perth suburb of Highgate.

The Lincoln Street Ventilation Stack was built in 1935 as a sewer vent by the Metropolitian Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage Department. It failed to adequately disperse the gasses and by 1941 was sealed and decommissioned.

Since then it has been used as a transmission tower.

It dominates the suburban streets and must be an amazing landmark to live next to.

Beneve Coffee House, Nairobi

This is another deco building in Nairobi, snapped from a minibus. The paintwork is very similiar to Sirona House and the Beneve Coffee House may even be part of the same block.

Apartment Building, The Bronx

The Grand Concourse, in the Bronx, features some wonderful Art Deco apartment blocks.
The decoration on the facade of this building features classic deco motifs such as frozen fountains, radiating light rays, city buildings and zig zag patterns, all in multi-coloured tiles.

There are also turkey in colour and other birds in terracotta.

The foyers of these buildings feature coloured terazzo floors with abstract deco patterns and some have fantastic fireplaces.

Dominion Restaurant, Hastings

The New Zealand town of Hastings, like the surrounding area and neighbouring town of Napier, suffered a lot of damage and loss of life during the 1931 earthquake and a major effort was required in the following years to rebuild the city.
The Dominion Restaurant was built in 1935 by Edward Anscombe & Associates and now operates as a fish and chip shop.
A lot of Hastings was rebuilt in Spanish Mission style but as you can see, the Dominion, is pure Art Deco.
The asymetrical windows either side of the entrance, curved on one side and stepped and angled on the other provide a great point of interest while the whole facade is drawn together by the green tiles and zig zag design below the windows.
It was closed when I visited Hastings but even time I look at this picture I wonder whether they have a nice booth where I can snuggle in with a huge plate of fish & chips.

Bristol Pension, Asmara

Another Art Deco building in Asmara, the Bristol Pension. I don't know what the accommodation is like there but it is an art deco building so it must be worth a look on that basis alone.

The building is symetrical around a central stairwell. There are two small balconies on the second storey.

At the base of the building roughly cut dark stone has been used to give the building a level base.

According to Asmara - Africa's Secret Modernist City by Edward Denison, Guang Yu Ren and Naigzy Gebremedhin, the building was built during the 1940s, originally as an apartment block, and was named the Bristol Pension in the early 1960s.

They also note that the interior floors are topped with finely ground seashells 'providing an incredibly smooth finish'.

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

Another Drinking Fountain, Jolimont

I was out and about early this morning, getting tickets for next Saturday's big game, so I decided to see if my memory was correct regarding the art deco drinking fountain near Punt Road Oval.

As you can see I did remember correctly and this one is identical to the one at the other end of Brunton Avenue except that the inscribed avenue name has been turned 90 degrees to faces the roadway (which makes sense) and is gold coloured.

Drinking Fountain, Jolimont

I've spent a fair bit of time around the Brunton Avenue area this weekend, there is a magnificent sporting ground there and I spent a good part of Friday and Saturday night there. I must say that Friday was better than Saturday but that is of little concern now.

I was back there today, Sunday, not for sport this time, more passing through on my way home, and I took notice of this disused drinking fountain on the edge of Yarra Park, very near on Brunton Avenue.

I've seen it before but never stopped to really look at it.

You tend to miss the detail flying past in the car and it isn't exactly on a busy walking route. Today I was on my pushbike so I was going slow enough to take in the decoration. Especially the carved panels above the recessed openning depicting chevrons and frozen fountain motifs.

I seem to remember there is another one of these on the pathway from Richmond Station to the MCG between Punt Road Oval. I'll have toi check it out next Saturday and see if it is the same.

Pillars, St Kilda

There are a couple of art deco pillars on the St Kilda foreshore along Jacka Boulevard that were designed by architect of Canberra, Walter Burley Griffin.

They consist of stacked rectangles with relatively deep vertical grooves and a single rounded element on the inside of each one.

They mark the entrance to Brooks Jetty and according to the 2004 St Kilda Pier Kiosk Conservation Management Plan by David Moloney for Parks Victoria the pillars are orphans of an 'extensive streetscape design'.