Manchester Unity Building - Melbourne

The landmark Art Deco "Manchester Unity Building" in Melbourne CBD is lavishly detailed on the exterior as well as the interior.  There are many interesting features, the ground floor foyer and escalator being one of them.

Ostend Flats, Brighton - Melbourne

These stunning flats located in the suburb of Brighton, Melbourne were designed by architect, I.G Anderson.  He designed many great examples of Art Deco architecture in Victoria as well as Tasmania.  A notable example in Melbourne city that he designed included Lonsdale House that was only recently demolished.  Check out these flats named "Dorijo" in Fitzroy, Melbourne, also designed by Anderson. Note that Ostend, Lonsdale House and Dorijo are all adorned with tower turrets.

If you enjoy my Australian Art Deco & Modernism blog you might be interested to check out my blog dedicated to Tasmanian Art Deco & Modernism at http://modernismtas.blogspot.com.au/

I undertook a major photographic project documenting Australian Modernism that saw me travel throughout Victoria, New South Wales, ACT, and Queensland.  Check out my photographic collection here, the collection continues to be added too, so keep on checking back.

Melbourne Art Deco Flats "Dorijo"

This Art Deco complex in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy is an amazing design, and were designed by I.G Anderson who did many homes and flats in Melbourne and he also designed a wonderful streamline commercial building in Tasmania.  Many of his buildings had stylised turrets on the top of the building, and Dorijo is no different.  Others included Lonsdale House (demolished 2010) and Ostend flats in Brighton, Melbourne.

To view 100+ photographs from the Art Deco and Modernist period in Melbourne check out my website page dedicated to Victoria check them out here

Melbourne Art Deco Industrial Motif

This Art Deco gem was tucked away in an Industrial area of Melbourne, and it was the last thing I was expecting to witness in this area of Industrial buildings. Modernist design always has a habit of surprising you when you least expect it!

Art Deco commercial building "Gundowring House" Wodonga

This Art Deco building is one of those places I look at and think if it were something else in a past life. Could it have been a home, a hotel perhaps? Either way the more you look at the design elements in this building there more interesting features there are. There are the portholes at the top of the facade as well as interesting details on the left hand side of the building. The arching vertical rendering is very interesting and the use of this style was becoming more popular in design in the Post War Period and featured frequently in designs up until the 1960s.

Kyabrym Art Deco Shop "Pettifer's" with original features

During my 20,000km journey photographing 20c architecture, nothing pleased me more than taking a stroll down a main street in a country town and seeing in-tact period buildings. This was the case when visiting the township of Kyabrym, 170km North of Melbourne.

This little Deco Gem by the name of "Pettifer's" has pretty much all of it's original features, even the interior spaces are set out lovingly, it's as if you have walked back into the 1930s! The manikins are really interesting in the own right, I remember seeing these in shops all the time, but they too are becoming a rare sight.Check out the typeface used and the horizontal banding, black background with gold writing spelling out "Pettifer's" and the arrows pointing to the entrance!

In Ballarat there is a very similar designed shop by the name of "Walter Davis",(click here to see a photo of it) I wonder if per chance it was designed by the same Architect who did Pettifer's?

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.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia - Bourke Street Melbourne

Yet another impressive example of Modernist Bank design, this time in the form of what would have been a very tall high-rise block when it was erected in the central Melbourne Business District. It is one of many impressive commercial buildings that dot the Melbourne skyline. Check out my photographs of Melbourne Modernism here (being updated on a regular basis)

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.

Grand Hotel Bega

If there is such a symbol and icon of Art Deco in Australia, it has got to be the hotel, or "pub". Right around Australia throughout many a town there are wonderful examples of Art Deco hotels.

The Grand Hotel in Bega, Victoria is no exception. The colour of the brick work is a standout feature and the large corner brick curve as well as the vertical detailing on each side of the building are interesting features.

Take a closer look under the eves and there are a series of very interesting period detailing as shown in this series of photographs.

Cooma Shops and Residence - Streamline Art Deco

I enjoy country towns for the modernist designs that they offer. I came across this wonderful example of a streamline design in Cooma, New South Wales.

The four impressive curves are offset by cube glass decoration feature walls. The fence also echoes the buildings style as well.

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.

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