View allAll Photos Tagged ArtDecoArchitecture
View of Archway and The Governer's Inn with his clock tower from Marine Parade, Napier, New Zealand.
Napier - called Ahuriri in the Māori language - is located in Hawke's Bay on the eastern coast of the North Island, New Zealand.
Napier and Hastings - the twin cities - are popular tourist cities, with a unique concentration of 1930s Art Deco architecture.
Focusing on the details, this photograph raises the question of visual appeal: the sleek, modern façade of the Tour Paradis stands in stark contrast to the curved lines and textured charm of the art deco apartment block in front of it. Whether harmonious or jarring, this juxtaposition is a striking example of how old and new coexist in the urban fabric of Liège – Belgium.
North Sydney Olympic Pool, built 1936-37: Frogs Detail
A charming blog entry celebrating this pool and Posted by: Simon Duffin on: 24/08/2015 is: 'North Sydney Olympic Pool – NSW 2000' [Ocean Pools NSW]
[North Sydney Swimming Pool_built 1936-37_Frogs_Detail_IMG_1711]
Melbourne based street artist Rone (Tyrone Wright) used the decaying glory of the 1933 Harry Norris designed Streamline Moderne mansion, Burnham Beeches in the Dandenong Ranges' Sherbrooke, between March the 6th and April 22nd to create an immersive hybrid art space for his latest installation exhibition; "Empire".
"Empire" combined a mixture of many different elements including art, sound, light, scent, found objects, botanic designs, objects from nature and music especially composed for the project by Nick Batterham. The Burnham Beeches project re-imagines and re-interprets the spirit of one of Victoria’s landmark mansions, seldom seen by the public and not accessed since the mid 1980s. According to Rone - Empire website; "viewers are invited to consider what remains - the unseen cultural, social, artistic and spiritual heritage which produces intangible meaning."
Rone was invited by the current owner of Burnham Beeches, restaurateur Shannon Bennett, to exhibit "Empire" during a six week interim period before renovations commence to convert the heritage listed mansion into a select six star hotel.
Rone initially imagined the mansion to be in a state of dereliction, but found instead that it was a stripped back blank canvas for him to create his own version of how he thought it should look. Therefore, almost all the decay is in fact of Rone's creation from grasses in the Games Room which 'grow' next to a rotting billiards table, to the damp patches, water staining and smoke damage on the ceilings. Nests of leaves fill some spaces, whilst tree branches and in one case an entire avenue of boughs sprout from walls and ceilings. Especially designed Art Deco wallpaper created in Rone's studio has been installed on the walls before being distressed and damaged. The rooms have been adorned with furnishings and objects that might once have graced the twelve original rooms of Burnham Beeches: bulbulous club sofas, half round Art Deco tables, tarnished silverware and their canteen, mirrored smoke stands of chrome and Bakelite, glass lamps, English dinner services, a glass drinks trolley, photos of people long forgotten in time, walnut veneer dressing tables reflecting the installation sometimes in triplicate, old wire beadsteads, luggage, shelves of books, an Underwood typewriter, a John Broadwood and Sons of London grand piano and even a Kriesler radiogramme. All these objects were then covered in a thick sheet or light sprinkling of 'dust' made of many different things including coffee grinds and talcum powder, creating a sensation for the senses. Burnham Beeches resonated with a ghostly sense of its former grandeur, with a whiff of bittersweet romance.
Throughout the twelve rooms, magnificent and beautifully haunting floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall portraits of Australian actress Lily Sullivan, star of the Foxtel re-make of Picnic at Hanging Rock, appear. Larger than life, each portrait is created in different colours, helping to create seasonal shifts as you move from room to room.
Although all the rooms are amazing for many different reasons, there are two major standouts. The Study features walls of books covered with a portrait of Lily Sullivan, and the entire room is partially submerged in a lake of black water with the occasional red oak leaf floating across its glassy surface. The Dining Room features two long tables covered in a Miss Havisham like feast of a trove of dinner table objects from silverware and glassware to empty oyster shells and vases of grasses and feathers.
The Dining Room installation I found especially confronting. In 1982, I visited Burnham Beeches when it was a smart and select hotel and had Devonshire tea in the dining room at a table alongside the full length windows overlooking the terraces below. I was shocked to see a room I remember appointed with thick carpets and tables covered in gleaming silver and white napery, strewn with dust and leaves, and adorned with Miss Havisham's feast of found dining objects.
I feel very honoured and privileged to be amongst the far too few people fortunate enough to have seen Rone's "Empire", as like the seasons, it is ephemeral, and it will already have been dismantled. Rone's idea is that, like his street art, things he creates don't last forever, and that made the project exciting. I hope that my photographs do justice to, and adequately share as much as is possible of this amazing installation with you.
The Pythian Temple
architect: Thomas W. Lamb, 1927
architectural style: Art Deco, Egyptian & Assyrian Revival Temple
Built as the Headquarters of the 120 Pythian lodges of New York City.
Converted to residential use by architect David Gura in 1986.
Manhattan, Upper West Side
Lincoln Square neighborhood
135 West 70th Street
New York City, NY
Will Rogers Memorial Center, the Tower and Auditorium in view. Photo taken from outside the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX.
Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste / Church of St. John the Baptist in Molenbeek, Brussels. By architect Joseph Diongre, 1930.
The construction of the church took only 15 months. This was made possible by the use of reinforced concrete for the structure of the building - a choice dictated by economic concerns. The facade and the 56 m tower are partially covered with white Brauvilliers stone. Inside, parabolic arches bring lightness and space to the nave.
This Art Deco church received protected status in 1984.
The Pythian Temple
architect: Thomas W. Lamb, 1927
architectural style: Art Deco, Egyptian & Assyrian Revival Temple
Built as the Headquarters of the 120 Pythian lodges of New York City.
Converted to residential use by architect David Gura in 1986.
Manhattan, Upper West Side
Lincoln Square neighborhood
135 West 70th Street
New York City, NY
The Pythian Temple
architect: Thomas W. Lamb, 1927
architectural style: Art Deco, Egyptian & Assyrian Revival Temple
Built as the Headquarters of the 120 Pythian lodges of New York City.
Converted to residential use by architect David Gura in 1986.
Manhattan, Upper West Side
Lincoln Square neighborhood
135 West 70th Street
New York City, NY
The New York City skyline featuring the Chrysler Building and the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge.
Looking out towards Queens past the beautiful architectural masterpiece that is the Chrysler Building and the skyscrapers that make up the midtown Manhattan skyline in the late summer.
I love how the horizon disappears into the summer haze this time of year. It makes the foreground skyline pop in the most wonderful manner.
--
View more of my New York City photography at my website NY Through The Lens.
View my photography profile on Google Plus: New York City photography by Vivienne Gucwa
To purchase any of my work view my site gallery for info here.
To use any of my photos commercially, simply click the link which reads "Request to license Vivienne Gucwa's photos via Getty Images". This link can be found on the bottom right corner of the page of the photo you are interested in using.
Omaha Union Station (1931) was one of the first Art Deco train stations in the United States. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, the Station was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016 (the designation noted that the Station "is one of the most distinctive and complete examples of Art Deco architecture in the nation. . . [and] outstandingly expresses the style’s innovative and diverse surface ornamentation inspired by the machine age.") See here for more on the station's architecture and history.
Omaha Union Station closed for rail service in the 1970s when a new Amtrak station opened nearby. The Station now houses the Durham Museum. As noted on the museum's website, the Durham showcases everything from "permanent exhibits highlighting the history of Omaha and its surrounding regions, to impressive traveling exhibitions from our national partners such as the Smithsonian Institution, the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the Field Museum."
The Pythian Temple
architect: Thomas W. Lamb, 1927
architectural style: Art Deco, Egyptian & Assyrian Revival Temple
Built as the Headquarters of the 120 Pythian lodges of New York City.
Converted to residential use by architect David Gura in 1986.
Manhattan, Upper West Side
Lincoln Square neighborhood
135 West 70th Street
New York City, NY
A bit of cool Art Deco flourish amid the Federal-style architecture on Winchester Street in historic Bay Village, Boston. These buildings were used as film warehouses by major studios given Bay Village's proximity to the adjacent Theatre District. Indeed, Columbia's Art Deco Boston distribution facility is now luxury condos).
(bonus: the tiny tricycle chained to the lamp post)
The Pythian Temple
architect: Thomas W. Lamb, 1927
architectural style: Art Deco, Egyptian & Assyrian Revival Temple
Built as the Headquarters of the 120 Pythian lodges of New York City.
Converted to residential use by architect David Gura in 1986.
Manhattan, Upper West Side
Lincoln Square neighborhood
135 West 70th Street
New York City, NY
The Pythian Temple
architect: Thomas W. Lamb, 1927
architectural style: Art Deco, Egyptian & Assyrian Revival Temple
Built as the Headquarters of the 120 Pythian lodges of New York City.
Converted to residential use by architect David Gura in 1986.
Manhattan, Upper West Side
Lincoln Square neighborhood
135 West 70th Street
New York City, NY
Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste / Church of St. John the Baptist in Molenbeek, Brussels. By architect Joseph Diongre, 1930.
The construction of the church took only 15 months. This was made possible by the use of reinforced concrete for the structure of the building - a choice dictated by economic concerns. The facade and the 56 m tower are partially covered with white Brauvilliers stone. Inside, parabolic arches bring lightness and space to the nave.
This Art Deco church received protected status in 1984.
Traffic leaves light trails at dusk in a long exposure photograph of Colston Avenue in central Bristol, with the Colston Tower and art deco 33 Colston Avenue office buildings.
Napier - called Ahuriri in the Māori language - is located in Hawke's Bay on the eastern coast of the North Island, New Zealand.
Napier and Hastings - the twin cities - are popular tourist cities, with a unique concentration of 1930s Art Deco architecture.
The Pythian Temple
architect: Thomas W. Lamb, 1927
architectural style: Art Deco, Egyptian & Assyrian Revival Temple
Built as the Headquarters of the 120 Pythian lodges of New York City.
Converted to residential use by architect David Gura in 1986.
Manhattan, Upper West Side
Lincoln Square neighborhood
135 West 70th Street
New York City, NY
The Pythian Temple
architect: Thomas W. Lamb, 1927
architectural style: Art Deco, Egyptian & Assyrian Revival Temple
Built as the Headquarters of the 120 Pythian lodges of New York City.
Converted to residential use by architect David Gura in 1986.
Manhattan, Upper West Side
Lincoln Square neighborhood
135 West 70th Street
New York City, NY
My Flickr friend ajhaysom inspired me to use the mirrors in the bedrooms, and I certainly had fun trying to capture Lily Sullivan in triplicate in this mirror.
Melbourne based street artist Rone (Tyrone Wright) used the decaying glory of the 1933 Harry Norris designed Streamline Moderne mansion, Burnham Beeches in the Dandenong Ranges' Sherbrooke, between March the 6th and April 22nd to create an immersive hybrid art space for his latest installation exhibition; "Empire".
"Empire" combined a mixture of many different elements including art, sound, light, scent, found objects, botanic designs, objects from nature and music especially composed for the project by Nick Batterham. The Burnham Beeches project re-imagines and re-interprets the spirit of one of Victoria’s landmark mansions, seldom seen by the public and not accessed since the mid 1980s. According to Rone - Empire website; "viewers are invited to consider what remains - the unseen cultural, social, artistic and spiritual heritage which produces intangible meaning."
Rone was invited by the current owner of Burnham Beeches, restaurateur Shannon Bennett, to exhibit "Empire" during a six week interim period before renovations commence to convert the heritage listed mansion into a select six star hotel.
Rone initially imagined the mansion to be in a state of dereliction, but found instead that it was a stripped back blank canvas for him to create his own version of how he thought it should look. Therefore, almost all the decay is in fact of Rone's creation from grasses in the Games Room which 'grow' next to a rotting billiards table, to the damp patches, water staining and smoke damage on the ceilings. Nests of leaves fill some spaces, whilst tree branches and in one case an entire avenue of boughs sprout from walls and ceilings. Especially designed Art Deco wallpaper created in Rone's studio has been installed on the walls before being distressed and damaged. The rooms have been adorned with furnishings and objects that might once have graced the twelve original rooms of Burnham Beeches: bulbulous club sofas, half round Art Deco tables, tarnished silverware and their canteen, mirrored smoke stands of chrome and Bakelite, glass lamps, English dinner services, a glass drinks trolley, photos of people long forgotten in time, walnut veneer dressing tables reflecting the installation sometimes in triplicate, old wire beadsteads, luggage, shelves of books, an Underwood typewriter, a John Broadwood and Sons of London grand piano and even a Kriesler radiogramme. All these objects were then covered in a thick sheet or light sprinkling of 'dust' made of many different things including coffee grinds and talcum powder, creating a sensation for the senses. Burnham Beeches resonated with a ghostly sense of its former grandeur, with a whiff of bittersweet romance.
Throughout the twelve rooms, magnificent and beautifully haunting floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall portraits of Australian actress Lily Sullivan, star of the Foxtel re-make of Picnic at Hanging Rock, appear. Larger than life, each portrait is created in different colours, helping to create seasonal shifts as you move from room to room.
Although all the rooms are amazing for many different reasons, there are two major standouts. The Study features walls of books covered with a portrait of Lily Sullivan, and the entire room is partially submerged in a lake of black water with the occasional red oak leaf floating across its glassy surface. The Dining Room features two long tables covered in a Miss Havisham like feast of a trove of dinner table objects from silverware and glassware to empty oyster shells and vases of grasses and feathers.
The Dining Room installation I found especially confronting. In 1982, I visited Burnham Beeches when it was a smart and select hotel and had Devonshire tea in the dining room at a table alongside the full length windows overlooking the terraces below. I was shocked to see a room I remember appointed with thick carpets and tables covered in gleaming silver and white napery, strewn with dust and leaves, and adorned with Miss Havisham's feast of found dining objects.
I feel very honoured and privileged to be amongst the far too few people fortunate enough to have seen Rone's "Empire", as like the seasons, it is ephemeral, and it will already have been dismantled. Rone's idea is that, like his street art, things he creates don't last forever, and that made the project exciting. I hope that my photographs do justice to, and adequately share as much as is possible of this amazing installation with you.
Streetscape with Art Deco buildings, dated 1922, Longueville Rd, Lane Cove, Sydney, NSW. An interesting exercise in how differently similar things can look by varying the colour schemes.
[Streetscape w Deco bldgs1922_LonguevilleRd,LaneCove_MS_IMG_2129]
A street shot of jewelry stores on Fifth Avenue in NYC including Tiffany's (center) in Christmas decorations.The store has been at this location since 1940.It has moved from four different locations prior to this since it's founding in 1837 by Charles Lewis Tiffany.You can't see it here but above the door stands a 9-ft statue of Atlas shouldering a clock 4-ft in diameter.The statue has been removed and moved to the stores various locations as well since 1837!The facade is made of granite,limestone,and marble.The 7-story structure was designed by architectural firm Cross & Cross.The 8,400 sq foot main floor is constructed without columns!The 24-ft ceiling amazingly is secured with three 106-ton trusses,an advance developed for bridge construction.Scenes from Breakfast at Tiffany's,Sleepless in Seattle,and Sweet Home Alabama were all shot at the store-press.tiffany.com
Autumn in Melbourne is always beautiful, with many wonderful deciduous trees full of colour like these elm trees outside the former Repatriation Commission Outpatients Repatriation Clinic on the corner of Coventry Street and St Kilda Road.
Melbourne had a very good start to summer with not too many burning hot days and lots of rain, which means that the autumn display of leaves at present are simply glorious.
The former Repatriation Commission Outpatients Repatriation Clinic at 310 St Kilda Road was, built between 1936 and 1937. Thought to be made to the designs of George Hallendal under the Commonwealth Works Department Director, H. L. McKennall, the clinic is typical of 1930s Commonwealth Government architecture. Built in inter-war Stripped Classical Art Deco design. The use of wrought iron grilles and gates is notable, as is the building's condition and integrity. Famous Melbourne artist Sir Arthur Streeton criticised the use of brown brick used to construct the building with. He complained of its contrast to the established bluestone brick of the Victorian era Victoria Barracks next door.
Completed on the 15th of December 1937 nearly 20 years after the end of the Great War, it was designed for the health and wellbeing of the original Anzac's from World War I. The clinic subsequently supported the wellbeing of veterans of of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The Australian veteran community consider it a sacred place due to the connection to the suffering of veterans returned from those wars. It contained a reception, a large central waiting hall with besutiful Art Deco decor, a pharmaceutical dispensary and store room, medical examination rooms, clarks offices, a theatre for minor surgery procedures, a dressing station, sisters office, nursing examination office, massage rooms, administrative offices and an archives file room. Historically, the Outpatients Repatriation Clinic is significant for its association with an important phase of building activity prior to the Second World War which included various barracks and several notable drill halls.
Sadly, in 2017, the Department of Defence identified the former Repatriation Commission Outpatients Repatriation Clinic as "surplus to Defence requirements". The property will be sold in accordance with the Commonwealth Property Disposal Policy. Today it stands shut up and neglected, with its fate unknown. Ideas have been raised of it being converted into a multi-storey apartment block, or another portion of the Melbourne arts precinct.
George Hallendal designed a number of notable Commonwealth Government buildings including the former Royal Australian Army Medical Corps Training Depot on A'Beckett Street in the Melbourne CBD, and the former Royal Australian Corps of Signals Drill Hall on Albert Road Drive in Albert Park. He also designed the house "
Ingoda" in Fitzgerald Street Balwyn in the early 1920s.
This is the interior of our house, built by my grandparents in the 1930's Art Deco & Arts and Crafts period with architect Brian O'Rorke. The architect was originally an ocean liner architect for the Orient Steam Navigation Company and this design aesthetic features prominently in the style and layout of the house.
Brian O'Rorke was a specialist in open plan layouts, making use of removable and folding walls, sliding glass doors, and on his ships, large promenade decks to keep cooling breezes flowing through spaces passengers could relax in. His trademark was making rooms or cabins to feel breezy by being as light and uncluttered as possible. Furnishings were chosen for their clean lines, wood given matte finishes, and columns left unadorned. All of this can be seen at Ashcombe Tower where hundreds of windows and open spaces with doors leading to terraces carry over these ideas. The Marion Dorn textiles complete the picture.
More recently we have begun the herculean task of restoration. Rewiring and redecoration after replumbing over the last four years. The concealed lighting in the ceiling here is very much of the 1930’s design era, although for some reason the lighting in this particular circle was never installed, so we have installed LED lighting technology. I’m sure it was an oversight when it was created.
Brian O'Rorke never was to design another private house - I recently heard from our own architect that it is widely known in architectural folklore that he had been so bullied by my grandmother that he never wanted to work on another private house! He instead created the new Berkerly Hotel, The New Royal Observatory (Herstmonceux Science Centre) and the halls of residence at Nottingham University.
When in London, two appealing architectural styles side by side caught my eye - both fronting Exhibition Road, Kensington SW7.
Both markedly different, yet complimenting each other well.
To the left we see the robust and solid Art Deco Princes Gate, built in 1935. The building has two entrances, one on Princes Gate numbered 59 to 61 and the other on Exhibition Road, numbered 62 to 63.
This beautifully streamlined and elegant building was designed by Adie, Button and Partners.
And to the right, we see Hyde Park Chapel, a multi-use facility owned and maintained by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It was designed by Sir Thomas Bennett in 1961. Built of reinforced concrete with Portland stone facing. A thin golden spire rises from the west face of the tower and beneath this spire is a stained glass window designed by Pierre Fourmaintraux, made in the Whitefriars Studio.
© All rights reserved.
Omaha Union Station (1931) was one of the first Art Deco train station in the United States. It closed for rail service in the 1970s and now houses the Durham Museum. Omaha's other passenger train station, the Italianate Burlington Station (1898) also closed in 1974 when a new Amtrak station was built a block or so to the east. The Burlington Station just underwent a major renovation, see this photo set and info.
I've shot the Durham Museum / Union Station before. See, e.g. here for a closer up shot of the front façade, here for a close up of one of the south side entrances, and here for another shot of the interior.
The Pythian Temple
architect: Thomas W. Lamb, 1927
architectural style: Art Deco, Egyptian & Assyrian Revival Temple
Built as the Headquarters of the 120 Pythian lodges of New York City.
Converted to residential use by architect David Gura in 1986.
Manhattan, Upper West Side
Lincoln Square neighborhood
135 West 70th Street
New York City, NY
The land around the Bright Memorial Clock Tower was set aside by the first surveyors in 1862 as a town square. Later, the area became known as Mafeking Square to commemorate the siege and subsequent ‘relief of Mafeking’ during the Boer War in 1900. In 1929 the Memorial Clock Tower was built by John and Norman Icely, David Jones and Mr. Butler. The tower was officially unveiled on the 29th of December 1929 as part of the ‘Back to Bright’ festivities. The Bright Brass Band was known to play in Mafeking Square around the memorial tower to entertain the townsfolk and visitors. Much has changed since the Bright Memorial Clock Tower was built, yet it still stands strong as a lasting memorial to those who lost their lives during the Great War and the Second World War.
Bright, a town in north-east Victoria, is situated in the Ovens Valley and is part of the Alpine Region of Victoria. 210 kilometres from Melbourne, Bright was one of the towns in the Ovens Valley where gold was discovered. Gold was found near the junction of Morses Creek and the Ovens River in the 1850s. Established in 1862 and named Bright, most likely after John Bright (1811 - 1889) an English publicist, reformer and parliamentarian the township thrived. With the Gold Rush in full swing, Bright soon had Catholic, Wesleyan and Presbyterian churches, schools, three hotels, three quartz mills and two bank branches. As the yield of gold declined in the 1870s, so too did Bright’s population, yet by the 1880s, it became an alpine tourism town. The Bright Alpine club was formed in 1887 and a community library was started there in 1889. In the following year Bright was connected by railway to Myrtleford and Wangaratta, bringing with it much needed tourists from Melbourne. In 1910 a grand chalet was opened at Mount Buffalo and Bright ran a hire car service for visitors, who often stayed there overnight at a hotel or guesthouse. In 1919 a secondary school was opened in Bright. It also had a tourist progress association and local angling, bowling, racing, tennis and golf clubs amongst its many attractions. By the mid 1920s the people of Bright began planting exotic trees partly for landscape improvement and partly to lay the summer dust. The street tree plantings produced extraordinary autumn colours. By 1933, Bright was described as the “Tourism Capital of the Ovens Valley”. Bright’s train line continued until 1983 when it was finally discontinued and replaced with coaches. By that time, it was a well established tourism town with people flocking there all throughout the year for different reasons. Bright is a base for exploring the peaks of Mount Buffalo National Park and Alpine National Park as well as Mount Hotham, a popular ski resort. Bright is a starting point for the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail, a hiking and cycling path. Bright Museum, in the town’s former train station, documents rail and gold rush history. The region is also known for wineries and of course its amazing display of autumnal foliage.
North Sydney Olympic Pool, built 1936-37: Cones Detail (long shot)
A charming blog entry celebrating this pool and Posted by: Simon Duffin on: 24/08/2015 is: 'North Sydney Olympic Pool – NSW 2000' [Ocean Pools NSW]
[North Sydney Swimming Pool_built 1936-37_Cones_LS_importance-framing_IMG_1709]
Omaha Union Station (1931) was one of the first Art Deco train stations in the United States. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, the Station was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016 (the designation noted that the Station "is one of the most distinctive and complete examples of Art Deco architecture in the nation. . . [and] outstandingly expresses the style’s innovative and diverse surface ornamentation inspired by the machine age.") See here for more on the station's architecture and history.
Omaha Union Station closed for rail service in the 1970s when a new Amtrak station opened nearby. The Station now houses the Durham Museum. As noted on the museum's website, the Durham showcases everything from "permanent exhibits highlighting the history of Omaha and its surrounding regions, to impressive traveling exhibitions from our national partners such as the Smithsonian Institution, the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the Field Museum."
Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste / Church of St. John the Baptist in Molenbeek, Brussels. By architect Joseph Diongre, 1930.
The construction of the church took only 15 months. This was made possible by the use of reinforced concrete for the structure of the building - a choice dictated by economic concerns. The facade and the 56 m tower are partially covered with white Brauvilliers stone. Inside, parabolic arches bring lightness and space to the nave.
This Art Deco church received protected status in 1984.
Photo of the Tom Parker Fountain 2009
Napier New Zealand
Thousands of people have feasted their eyes on the visual delight of the Tom Parker Fountain since it was built in 1936.
The fountain was named after Napier menswear businessman Tom Parker who donated £1000 towards the cost of building and installing it. The Napier Borough Council contributed the remaining funds and Parker chose the site on Marine Parade.
Since then, the Napier landmark has delighted not only locals but people from around the world.
Omaha Union Station (1931) was one of the first Art Deco train station in the United States. It closed for rail service in the 1970s and now houses the Durham Museum. Omaha's other passenger train station, the Italianate Burlington Station (1898) also closed in 1974 when a new Amtrak station was built a block or so to the east. The Burlington Station just underwent a major renovation, see this photo set and info.
I've shot the Durham Museum / Union Station before. See, e.g. here for a closer up shot of the front façade, here for a close up of one of the south side entrances, and here for another shot of the interior.
With its rhythmic vertical lines, scalloped roofline, and pale façade glowing against the sky, the apartment building at 851 Eddy Street in San Francisco’s Tenderloin/Van Ness corridor is a pristine example of Art Deco residential design. Located near the intersection of Eddy and Van Ness Avenue, this mid-rise gem is often overlooked—but for fans of historical architecture and streamlined design, it offers an elegant slice of 1930s modernity tucked into a busy urban block.
The building’s architectural details are classic Art Deco: fluted pilasters rise between the windows, giving the structure a sense of vertical lift and movement. Each parapet bay is topped with a sculptural, crown-like detail that mimics the appearance of cut stone or pressed concrete. The building's restrained palette—primarily white with subtle shadows cast by structural relief—lets the geometry speak for itself. Tall, evenly spaced windows allow ample natural light into the apartments and reinforce the emphasis on balance and proportion that defines the Deco style.
Constructed during the early-to-mid 20th century, this building likely emerged during San Francisco’s pre-war housing boom, when Art Deco was the architectural language of choice for hotels, cinemas, and residential towers alike. It joins a small but beloved group of Deco structures that dot the Tenderloin, Civic Center, and Nob Hill—adding vertical punctuation to otherwise flat, gridded streetscapes.
In this photograph, the building is captured from a low corner angle, emphasizing its towering symmetry and clean upward momentum. Trees soften the lower floors while deep blue skies and scattered clouds create a cinematic backdrop for the building’s whitewashed exterior. Neighboring Victorians and modern infill structures surround it, but the Deco building asserts its identity through confidence, not ostentation.
The fire escape, hugging the east elevation, adds texture without disrupting the vertical rhythm. And the subtle aging of the paint and plaster shows this building isn’t frozen in time—it’s a working piece of San Francisco’s living architectural history.
Whether you’re an Art Deco enthusiast, a cityscape photographer, or simply someone attuned to the small visual triumphs that make San Francisco so rich, 851 Eddy is worth noticing. It speaks to a moment in the city’s evolution when forward-looking design met practical urban housing—and the results remain quietly beautiful to this day.
Melbourne based street artist Rone (Tyrone Wright) used the decaying glory of the 1933 Harry Norris designed Streamline Moderne mansion, Burnham Beeches in the Dandenong Ranges' Sherbrooke, between March the 6th and April 22nd to create an immersive hybrid art space for his latest installation exhibition; "Empire".
"Empire" combined a mixture of many different elements including art, sound, light, scent, found objects, botanic designs, objects from nature and music especially composed for the project by Nick Batterham. The Burnham Beeches project re-imagines and re-interprets the spirit of one of Victoria’s landmark mansions, seldom seen by the public and not accessed since the mid 1980s. According to Rone - Empire website; "viewers are invited to consider what remains - the unseen cultural, social, artistic and spiritual heritage which produces intangible meaning."
Rone was invited by the current owner of Burnham Beeches, restaurateur Shannon Bennett, to exhibit "Empire" during a six week interim period before renovations commence to convert the heritage listed mansion into a select six star hotel.
Rone initially imagined the mansion to be in a state of dereliction, but found instead that it was a stripped back blank canvas for him to create his own version of how he thought it should look. Therefore, almost all the decay is in fact of Rone's creation from grasses in the Games Room which 'grow' next to a rotting billiards table, to the damp patches, water staining and smoke damage on the ceilings. Nests of leaves fill some spaces, whilst tree branches and in one case an entire avenue of boughs sprout from walls and ceilings. Especially designed Art Deco wallpaper created in Rone's studio has been installed on the walls before being distressed and damaged. The rooms have been adorned with furnishings and objects that might once have graced the twelve original rooms of Burnham Beeches: bulbulous club sofas, half round Art Deco tables, tarnished silverware and their canteen, mirrored smoke stands of chrome and Bakelite, glass lamps, English dinner services, a glass drinks trolley, photos of people long forgotten in time, walnut veneer dressing tables reflecting the installation sometimes in triplicate, old wire beadsteads, luggage, shelves of books, an Underwood typewriter, a John Broadwood and Sons of London grand piano and even a Kriesler radiogramme. All these objects were then covered in a thick sheet or light sprinkling of 'dust' made of many different things including coffee grinds and talcum powder, creating a sensation for the senses. Burnham Beeches resonated with a ghostly sense of its former grandeur, with a whiff of bittersweet romance.
Throughout the twelve rooms, magnificent and beautifully haunting floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall portraits of Australian actress Lily Sullivan, star of the Foxtel re-make of Picnic at Hanging Rock, appear. Larger than life, each portrait is created in different colours, helping to create seasonal shifts as you move from room to room.
Although all the rooms are amazing for many different reasons, there are two major standouts. The Study features walls of books covered with a portrait of Lily Sullivan, and the entire room is partially submerged in a lake of black water with the occasional red oak leaf floating across its glassy surface. The Dining Room features two long tables covered in a Miss Havisham like feast of a trove of dinner table objects from silverware and glassware to empty oyster shells and vases of grasses and feathers.
The Dining Room installation I found especially confronting. In 1982, I visited Burnham Beeches when it was a smart and select hotel and had Devonshire tea in the dining room at a table alongside the full length windows overlooking the terraces below. I was shocked to see a room I remember appointed with thick carpets and tables covered in gleaming silver and white napery, strewn with dust and leaves, and adorned with Miss Havisham's feast of found dining objects.
I feel very honoured and privileged to be amongst the far too few people fortunate enough to have seen Rone's "Empire", as like the seasons, it is ephemeral, and it will already have been dismantled. Rone's idea is that, like his street art, things he creates don't last forever, and that made the project exciting. I hope that my photographs do justice to, and adequately share as much as is possible of this amazing installation with you.
The Pythian Temple
architect: Thomas W. Lamb, 1927
architectural style: Art Deco, Egyptian & Assyrian Revival Temple
Built as the Headquarters of the 120 Pythian lodges of New York City.
Converted to residential use by architect David Gura in 1986.
Manhattan, Upper West Side
Lincoln Square neighborhood
135 West 70th Street
New York City, NY