Back to photostream

Detail of Streamline Moderne Flats - Essendon

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.

 

By the 1930s, stylish Art Deco flats like these, would have suited those of comfortable means who could afford to live in Essendon (the suburb in which these flats are located), and dispense with the difficulties of keeping a large retinue of staff. This block of four flats, featuring two dwellings above the others with an interconnecting staircase would have suited a small family, or perhaps a newly married couple for whom this would have been their first home.

 

This chic Streamline Moderne style building with its flat roof, white stuccoed brick walls, Functionalist windows, speed lines, rounded feature wall and stepped entrance follow the less cluttered lines of Metroland Art Deco architecture that came out of England after the war.

 

Essendon was established in the 1860s and became an area of affluence and therefore only had middle-class, upper middle-class and some very wealthy citizens.

3,003 views
2 faves
3 comments
Uploaded on September 3, 2011
Taken on May 30, 2009