former Victoria Car Park, Melbourne

former Victoria Car Park, Russell St frontage

Melbourne's first commercial car park, Victoria Car Park, designed by architect Marcus Barlow was built in 1938. It has two street frontages. In Russell Street (above) and Little Collins Street (below) both in Art Deco style.

The car park is in the same block as Scots Church and is now owned by Scots Church Properties Trust who have long sought to demolish the car park to allow commercial re-development of this prominent city corner.

Despite being listed by Heritage Victoria in 2002 the Church was eventually successful in 2007 in obtaining permission from then Minister for Planning, Justin Madden, for the development of a tower block that would incorporate the Little Collins Street car park frontage but also the demolition of the Russell Street frontage. The Art Deco & Modernism Society unsuccessfully fought to save the whole building.

former Victoria Car Park, Lt Collins St frontage

The other day, the Herald-Sun reported that Westpac bank will move their Victorian headquarters to a glass tower that will be developed by Grocon on this site.

It is four years since former Minister Madden made his ruling so we have enjoyed this Marcus Barlow design for that time but alas it won't be around for much longer. Certainly not as it is now. So if you happen to be in Melbourne in the next short while take a hike up to Russell Street and have a good look before it disappears.

Reference:
Preservation - former Victoria Car Park, ADMS website

Administracion Nacional de Puertos, Montevideo

Administracion Nacional de Puertos, Montevideo

Edificio Ophir, Copacabana

During our Art Deco walking tour of Copacabana I lingered for a short time outside this apartment block, Edificio Ophir.

As most of the group moved on, the doorman stuck head around the door and I made the most of my Portuguese lessons and ventured something along the lines of posso ver o interior? - Can I see inside? It worked because he opened the door wider and stepping aside beckoned me to come in.

The walls of the foyer have relief panels with stepped tops and an inlaid tile set at an angle creating a diamond shape. The doors to the apartments are plain would with coloured glass windows forming a cross.

The floor has a blue geometric pattern on a cream background and off to the left a curving staircase led off to the upper floors.

The door past the stairs leading to the back of the property is a simpler version of the main door which I think looks fabulous backlit from the street outside.

By the time I'd finished taking my photos and thanking the doorman, the group had disappeared. I was staying in Copacabana and kind of knew the area so I wasn't lost as such and there was another Aussie with me who had shared in the good fortune. Together we checked around a few corners and it wasn't long until we spied the tail-end of the group and were able to catch up in order to see the next building on the tour.

West End, Potts Point

West End, a block of flats at the end of Crick Avenue in Sydney's Potts Point.

Hotel Edison, New York City

I've written previously about the refurbished foyer at the Hotel Edison in New York. This is the outside of the hotel, a mass of columns and stepped levels. It is a vast building yet it is difficult to get a sense of just how big because everything is BIG in NYC and W 47th Street is relatively narrow so it isn't really possible to step back and get a really good view.

A House in Warragul

Behind the trees and the brick verandah there is a fairly standard Australian weatherboard single storey house but the verandah, in Art Deco style, makes it something different. The decoration is very simple. A vertical row of spaced bricks on each pier and a horizontal line of exposed bricks in the panels in the balustrade. A nice piece of styling accessed by a set of robust steps and a suitably deco gateway.

House for an Art Lover, Glasgow

In 1901 Glasgow architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his artist wife Margaret MacDonald entered a Germany-based competition to design a 'Grand Residence for an Art Lover'. Their entry was disqualified as incomplete but the couple submitted the missing perspectives and their design was awarded a purchase prize meaning that their portfolio of plans together with the second and third prize winners entries was circulated throughout Europe. That no first prize was awarded has lead many people since that time to surmise that Mackintosh & MacDonald would have one the competition if they had submitted a complete proposal by the required deadline.

In 1987 Glasgow civil engineer Graham Roxburgh had developed an idea to build a house based on the 1901 competition plans in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. By 1990 the exterior and much of the interior was complete but recession in the Nineties delayed the project until 1994 when it was revived by collaboration between Glasgow City Council and the Glasgow School of Art (Mackintosh's finest building IMHO) creating the House for an Art Lover.

It isn't deco. Art Nouveau or plainly just Charles Rennie Mackintosh & Margaret MacDonald but one thing for sure, it is stunning and well worth a visit.

Reference:
House for an Art Lover website

Houses, Warragul

I spotted this interesting row of semi-detached houses in Warragul the other day and had to return for a better look and to take some photos.

The end house has an entrance tacked on to the side with a great little open balcony (overlooking the pub car park).

The middle houses seem to share an arched entrance and bear simple rule of three decoration on the façade between the upper floor windows.

The house on the end may be a single dwelling and is the most decorative with small patterns of stepped bricks exposed through the render of the rest of the wall. This photo also shows the mix of timber, brick & render used on the façade of the houses very well.

But I particularly like the decoration around the arched entrance of this end house.