Surfers Paradise 1950s Home "Coolibah"

The Gold Coast is a place of constant renewal and rapid change, where the highrise is king.

This home in Surfers Paradise is a reminder of a time before the 1960s when this period of architecture would have been more the norm than the exception.

It's amazing to witness the rate of progress with massive highrise towers gobbling up every inch of space, and all in just over 50 years.

Homes such as this one featured are a social and architectural reminder of the cities architectural legacy.

Interesting features include the name of the home as well as the upper bay timber and glass windows.

Walter Davis Store - Ballarat Art Deco

Whilst Ballarat is often be referred to as a town with a lot of gold rush Victorian buildings, there are also many Modernist buildings, and several are from the Art Deco period.

Take a walk into the Ballarat Mall and you will come across this wonderful shop facade, that's still in original condition.

Whilst one may often look upwards to find period features of an Art Deco or other period, it's rare to see period features down at the street level. But every now and again you do, and this is one such example, and the period features continue inside.such as the case at the Walter Davis Store. The original period features continue throughout the interior. It wouldn't surprise me too if it was originally a clothing store.

It's historically important that these shops still exist, because whilst many period buildings may have their original facades, most have lost their interior spaces due to modernisation. Shops such as this one allow us to witness another period in Australian social and architectural history.

There are several shops throughout Australia that still retain their original shop-front features such as this wonderful shops does. Look out for future posts on other such shops.

Gundagai Service Station

Travel through any small town in Australia and chances are there will be several art deco and modernist buildings lining the streets. Take a trip off the motorway into Gundagai, New South Wales and at the end of the main street this striking streamline service stations awaits you.

Blue Bird Cafe - Innisfail

Innisfail in tropical Far North Queensland could well be Australia's most intact Art Deco township. Innisfail has a wealth of commercial and residential Modernist buildings and the Blue Bird Cafe in the central business district is one such striking example.

Lonsdale House Melbourne - Condemned to demolition

Lonsdale House, designed in 1934 (Architect I.G Anderson), was once on the list of Modernist buildings to explore whilst in Melbourne city.

The iconic Art Deco building was sadly demolished in 2010 to make way for a Myer redevelopment that will see a new glass box replace the iconic building that had stood on the site for some 70+ years.

Whilst in recent years there has been an appreciation for Modernist buildings, especially those from the Art Deco period, Lonsdale House proves that the days of wasteful demolition are still rife. But instead of 19th Century buildings being demolished, it's now our Modernist heritage that is at risk.

As a professional photographer much of my time is spent documenting buildings that are under threat in order to document their presence before they are vastly changed or demolished and lost forever; Lonsdale House was a case in point and a building that I had to visually document before it's sad fate.



To view my photo essay on Lonsdale House just months before it's demolition, and other Melbourne Modernist gems click here