The "Shirley Court" Art Deco Flats - Travancore
After the Great War (1914 - 1918), higher costs of living and the "servant problem" made living in the grand mansions and villas built in the Victorian and Edwardian eras a far less practical and attractive option for both those looking for new housing, and those who lived in big houses. It was around this time, in answer to these problems, that flats and apartments began to replace some larger houses, and became fashionable to live in.
"Shirley Court" is a stylish Art Deco complex of flats, featuring one dwelling above the other with interconnecting staircases, and they would have suited those of comfortable means who could afford to live in Trvancore (the suburb in which these flats are located), and dispense with the difficulties of keeping a large retinue of staff.
Built in 1939 by Melbourne architect James Wardrop (1891 - 1975), this cottage style block with its roof in a mixture of tiles in different shades, brick walls with picked out sections of red and clinker bricks, stylised chimneys and round balconies follow the less cluttered lines of Metroland Art Deco architecture that came out of England after the war. "Shirley Court" has a street frontage four times the size of what is seen in the photograph.
Travancore is a bijou suburb named after a beautiful Victorian mansion erected in 1863. The mansion's grounds were subdivided in the late 1890s to form the new suburb, which consists only of only about five streets. With commanding views of Royal Park, the area was much sought after by aspiring middle and upper middle-class citizens.
James Wardrop also designed Alkira House and the United Kingdom Hotel in 1937.
The "Shirley Court" Art Deco Flats - Travancore
After the Great War (1914 - 1918), higher costs of living and the "servant problem" made living in the grand mansions and villas built in the Victorian and Edwardian eras a far less practical and attractive option for both those looking for new housing, and those who lived in big houses. It was around this time, in answer to these problems, that flats and apartments began to replace some larger houses, and became fashionable to live in.
"Shirley Court" is a stylish Art Deco complex of flats, featuring one dwelling above the other with interconnecting staircases, and they would have suited those of comfortable means who could afford to live in Trvancore (the suburb in which these flats are located), and dispense with the difficulties of keeping a large retinue of staff.
Built in 1939 by Melbourne architect James Wardrop (1891 - 1975), this cottage style block with its roof in a mixture of tiles in different shades, brick walls with picked out sections of red and clinker bricks, stylised chimneys and round balconies follow the less cluttered lines of Metroland Art Deco architecture that came out of England after the war. "Shirley Court" has a street frontage four times the size of what is seen in the photograph.
Travancore is a bijou suburb named after a beautiful Victorian mansion erected in 1863. The mansion's grounds were subdivided in the late 1890s to form the new suburb, which consists only of only about five streets. With commanding views of Royal Park, the area was much sought after by aspiring middle and upper middle-class citizens.
James Wardrop also designed Alkira House and the United Kingdom Hotel in 1937.