Alfresco, Brighton

This is the view from the beach of Alfresco Restaurant in Brighton. A wonderful location looking out on the historic piers and the English Channel.

The address is given as Milkmaid Pavilion which conjures up more questions in my mind than answers. I presume it was a dressing pavilion for bathers ... but there must be some story behind the Milkmaid name.

From the Upper Esplanade the building looks like a ship cruising into shore. The outside terraces are bounded by metal railings and the tower marking the entrance has porthole windows and a flagpole.

I'm sure as the Alfresco name suggests, this is a lovely place to sit out for a meal or a drink on a sunny English summer afternoon.

Shop and Flats, Semaphore

An interesting conbination of a 1938 shop and residence in Semaphore, South Australia.

John Curtin College of the Arts, Fremantle

The site of the John Curtin College of the Arts has an interesting history. Originally a cemetery in the mid to late 1800s that was decommissioned in 1899 it wasn't until the 1940s that a permanent school building was constructed. In 1943 the Manual Arts building was constructed for the Fremantle Technical School.

Between 1954 and 1958 other school buildings were added to the site and the school became the John Curtin High School in honour of Australia's war time Prime Minister.

Subsequentially it became the John Curtin College of the Arts.

New buildings have also been added to the site since the 1950s but for me it is the overall asymetrical shape, stacked rectangular masses, flag pole and the vertical fins on the tower of the 1943 Manual Arts building that defines the school.

Reference:
College History, John Curtin College of the Arts website

Tennyson Chambers, Napier

In Art deco Napier: Styles of the thirties Peter Shaw writes that "... Tennyson Chambers originated in the offices of C T Natusch & Sons, but exterior detailing is unmistakably the work of Louis Hay's office."

Then in his book Louis Hay: Architect Shaw provides the proof with the inclusion of a drawing of the facade from the collection of Judd Fenwick Natusch dated November 1931 and executed by Arthur Milne, one of Hay's employees.

Apart from the colouring, the main difference I can see between Milne's watercolour and my 1999 photo is the rendering of the "Tennyson Chambers" name. The plan calls for a much more striking effect featuring bold stylish lettering and the year the chambers were constructed, 1932, in the gap between the two words.

The other decorative elements appear to be the same right down to the arrangement of inset tiles across the parapet.

For me the most striking feature are the geometric capitals on the columns. They are common of Hay's work on other Napier buildings such as Munster Chambers and his own offices in Herschell Street. Shaw makes the comparison of these elements in Hay's work and Frank Lloyd Wright's concrete decorations at Hollyhock House in Los Angeles built in 1920 for Aline Barnsdall. No doubt Wright was a major influence on Hay's work.

References:
Art deco Napier: Styles of the thirties by Peter Shaw and Peter Hallett
Louis Hay: Architect by Peter Shaw

Myers-Duren Harley-Davidson, Tulsa

Myers-Duren Harley Davidson is a piece of modern Art Deco in Tulsa. It was custom-built around 1998 for this well-established Harley dealership.

There are porthole windows arranged in groups of three, a large geometric finial and glass bricks at the entrance placed on the corner of the building. The simple painted stripes on the side of the building identify the side entrance.

So the building has lots of Art Deco elements but is it Art Deco and in a hundred or two hundred years will it matter?

Reference:
Myers-Duren website

former Glenelg Fire Station

Here are a few pictures of the former Glenelg Fire Station.

Certainly to take my mind, and perhaps your's, off the events of yesterday at the MCG. Congratulations to Collingwood they were the better team by far but that doesn't mean that I have to think any more about it.

So back to Adelaide ... Gordon St, Glenelg to be exact.

When I took these photos a few years ago, it was the Glenelg Fine Art Gallery and I believe it still is. As far as I can tell they do not have a website and in fact I can find very few references to the building at all on the web.

Still it is a beautiful little fire station designed with some flair yet fulfilling the functional requirements of the Fire Brigade.

Woolindra, St Kilda

As the Coodabeens said on the radio this morning, It's deja vu all over again. Grand Final 2010 Reloaded ... Groundhog Day ... or quite simply (and correctly) the AFL Grand Final 2010 Replay pits St Kilda against Collingwood again for the premiership after their epic draw last week.

As a history buff and a St Kilda tragic I'm thrilled to have been at a drawn Grand Final.

Some people never get to see their team play in a Grand Final and I'm going to see the Saints play three in two years.

So here is a lovely Art Deco block of flats in St Kilda. Woolindra. Enjoy.

GO SAINTERS!

Medical Arts Building, Oak Park

The Medical Arts Building in Oak Park was designed by Roy Hotchkiss in 1929. At eight storeys it is squat by American skyscraper standards but in suburban Oak Park it is quite a substantial building.

The entrance is flanked by these wonderfully shaped wall lights and the green colouring comes from the panels under the window which bear one or other of these 'frozen fountain' designs.

Reference:
Medical Arts Building, Oak Park, IL, Waymarking.com