Chatham House - Ballarat

This wonderful circa 1950s window detail caught my eye in Ballarat. The timber windows and they way that they are proportioned are typical of 1950/60s design, love the font as well! A shame about the obtrusive air conditioning units though! Ballarat has many great examples of Art Deco and Modernist Architecture all within easy walking distance of one another.

Ballarat Post War Design - Eureka House

Whilst Ballarat in Victoria is well known for its "Gold Rush" Victorian period architecture, the city has many examples of post war modernist architecture as well, including Eureka House.

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.