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Styles and Attitudes ......
Some GEOMETRIC Patterns in Fashion
La luminosa GIOVANNA BATTAGLIA
#pfw16 # #paris #giovannaBattaglia #fashion #trend #geometricpatterns #geometry #streetstyleparis #streetstyle #mode #skirts #navystyle #colors #beauties #stylishpeople #
This wonderful Art Deco walnut case wireless radio was made by the New Zealand manufacturers, Temple. According to its serial number, it was made in 1935 and is very much typical of a wireless found in most middle-class homes during the 1930s. It has a pyramid case; still a popular shape after “Egyptomania” or “Tutmania” gripped the world after the discovery of Pharaoh Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922. Its edges however, are rounded, hinting at the Streamline Moderne style so popular in the mid 1930s. Whilst the fine veneer is a warm walnut, the very Art Deco speaker grille and the two fin details on the front are made of stained blackwood. The manufacturer’s name is picked out in brass on red enamel above the convex glass dial and the lozenge knobs are of mottled chocolate brown Bakelite (an early form of plastic that came into everyday use in the 1920s and 30s). Worked with beautiful glass valves, this radio has to be allowed to warm up before use, but still works beautifully, sending forth a soft, slightly dappled sound that only wireless radios of this era and vintage can do. It can still pick up all AM radio stations as well as shortwave radio from around the world.
Private collection.
Observation point of Ismail I.
Royal Chamber.
Palacio del Generalife (1302-1324).
Granada, Andalucía, Spain.
Palmettes and geometric pattern of the famous glazed bricks friezes found in the apadana (Darius the Great's palace) in Susa (Shush) by french archeologist Marcel Dieulafoy and brought in Paris. Such polychromic friezes used to decorate the walls of the Achaemenian king's palaces in their capitales of Shush, Ecbatan, and Persepolis.
Pavillon Sully at the Louvre museum, Paris, France, March 2010
Palmettes et motifs géométriques décorant les fameuses frises de céramique en briques cuites à glaçures trouvées dans le tell de l’Apadana (palais de Darius le Grand) à Suse (Shush) par l’archéologue français marcel Dieulafoy et ramenées à Paris. De telles frises polychromiques décoraient les façades des palais royaux achéménides dans leurs capitales d’Ecbatane, Suse et Persépolis.
Pavillon Sully, musée du Louvre, Paris, France, Mars 2010
These intricately carved wooden doors once welcomed visitors into Ruth Asawa’s own San Francisco home. The swirling patterns feel alive—organic forms flowing with a quiet rhythm, echoing the movement in her wire sculptures. It’s not just a door; it’s an extension of her artistic language, sculpted by hand and infused with care. Standing before them, you feel her presence—protective, playful, and deeply rooted in craft. These doors are more than entryways; they’re guardians of a life lived in devotion to art, family, and form. A deeply personal work, now shared with the world.
Plate XXXIX: Moresque (Moorish) No. 1, Moresque ornament from the Alhambra, varieties of interlaced ornaments. (1-5, 16, 18 are borders on mosaic dados. 6-12,14. Plaster ornaments, used as upright and horizontal bands enclosing panels on the walls. 13,15. Square stops in the bands of the inscriptions. 17. Painted ornament from the Great Arch in the Hall of the Boat.)
Owen Jones (British designer, 1809-1874)
1856 57 cm (page height) x 39 cm (page width)
From: Jones, Owen. The grammar of ornament ; Illustrated by examples from various styles of ornament. One hundred and twelve plates, Folio ed., London: B. Quaritch, 1910
See MCAD Library's catalog record for this book.
Built in 1901, the former Caledonian Hotel in Yea’s main thoroughfare of High Street is today known as the Grand Central Hotel. Like many other hotels of the same era, the former Caledonian Hotel features a beautiful dado wall of majolica tiles. This building’s glazed Arts and Crafts style tiles are green and the wall features a frieze of arabesques and ellipses edged by black and white chequered tiles.
Yea is a small country town located 109 kilometres (68 miles) north-east of Melbourne in rural Victoria. The first settlers in the district were overlanders from New South Wales, who arrived in 1837. By 1839, settlements and farms dotted the area along the Goulburn River. The town was surveyed and laid out in 1855 and named after Colonel Lacy Walter Yea (1808 – 1855); a British Army colonel killed that year in the Crimean War. Town lots went on sale at Kilmore the following year. Settlement followed and the Post Office opened on 15 January 1858. The town site was initially known to pioneer settlers as the Muddy Creek settlement for the Yea River, called Muddy Creek until 1878. When gold was discovered in the area in 1859 a number of smaller mining settlements came into existence, including Molesworth. Yea expanded into a township under the influx of hopeful prospectors, with the addition of several housing areas, an Anglican church (erected in 1869) and a population of 250 when it formally became a shire in 1873. Yea was promoted as something of a tourist centre in the 1890s with trout being released into King Parrot Creek to attract recreational anglers. A post office was built in 1890, followed by a grandstand and a butter factory (now cheese factory) in 1891. There was a proposal in 1908 to submerge the town under the Trawool Water Scheme but it never went ahead. Today Yea is a popular stopping point for tourists on their way from Melbourne to the Victorian snow fields and Lake Eildon, and is very popular with cyclists who traverse the old railway line, which has since been converted into a cycling trail.
Plate XXXIV: Arabian No. 4 (Portion of an illuminated copy of the "Koran". These designs were traced from a splendid copy of the Koran in the Mosque El Barkookeyeh, founded A.D. 1384)
Owen Jones (British designer, 1809-1874)
1856 57 cm (page height) x 39 cm (page width)
From: Jones, Owen. The grammar of ornament ; Illustrated by examples from various styles of ornament. One hundred and twelve plates, Folio ed., London: B. Quaritch, 1910
See MCAD Library's catalog record for this book.
Collection: Cornell University Collection of Political Americana, Cornell University Library
Repository: Susan H. Douglas Political Americana Collection, #2214 Rare & Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, Cornell University
Title: 1904 Democratic National Convention Admission Ticket
Political Party: Democratic-Republican
Election Year: 1904
Date Made: 1904
Measurement: Ticket with 3 stubs: 2 3.4 x 8 3/4 in.; x 22.225 cm
Classification: Ephemera
Persistent URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1813.001/61b1
There are no known U.S. copyright restrictions on this image. The digital file is owned by the Cornell University Library which is making it freely available with the request that, when possible, the Library be credited as its source.
This Spanish Mission style villa with its impressive canopied entrance may be found in the Victorian provincial city of Ballarat.
Built of red and brown bricks, this smart villa with its stuccoed wall treatment is far simpler than some of its older late Victorian or Federation Queen Anne style neighbours, extolling the clean lines of the Art Deco movement so popular across Britain and her dominions during the 1920s and 1930s. The overall design of the villa is very in keeping with the Spanish Mission Movement. The stuccoed wall treatment, ledged and boarded windows with their fan detailing and the decorative parapet over the entrance with its barley twist columns are typical features of Spanish Mission style architecture. However, decoration typical of the "Metroland" Art Deco period are present as well: most notably in the window design which features leadlight glass, rather than stained glass, in geometric patterns. This is also reflected in the arched front door.
The Spanish Mission style was typically a style that emerged in California during the interwar years and spread across the world.
This style of home was one that aspirational middle-class families in the 1920s sought. Cottage like in style, it represented the comfort and modernity that the burgeoning Australian middle-class wanted.
Collection: Cornell University Collection of Political Americana, Cornell University Library
Repository: Susan H. Douglas Political Americana Collection, #2214 Rare & Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, Cornell University
Title: 1892 Republican National Convention Admission Ticket
Political Party: Republican
Election Year: 1892
Date Made: 1892
Measurement: Ticket: 2 3/4 x 4 7/8 in.; 6.985 x 12.3825 cm
Classification: Ephemera
Persistent URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1813.001/619q
There are no known U.S. copyright restrictions on this image. The digital file is owned by the Cornell University Library which is making it freely available with the request that, when possible, the Library be credited as its source.
Located on Coburg's elm lined and most prestigious street, The Grove, this property was one of the original buildings of the Moreland Park Estate.
Although it looks like one large high Victorian mansion, this property, constructed in the 1890s is a clever piece of architectural trickery, and is in fact two semi-detatched double storey residences. This in no way suggests that they were small. Quite the contrary, each was of a substantial size with their own towers, stables and outbuildings, and would have suited a wealthy upper middle-class Victorian family.
Built of polychromatic bricks, each villa is a mirror to that of its neighbour with a return verandah featuring elegant cast iron lacework. The roof is made of slate tiles with a striped pattern laid out as part of the design, whilst the verandah is of corrugated iron. The brown and yellow bricks are constructed in a profusion of geometric designs, which even make the shared wall between the two villas a smart feature. Even the chimney is built of polychromatic bricks. Perhaps its most outstanding features are the distinctive French inspired Second Empire mansard roofed towers, which make the property stand out for miles around.
This villa represents the brief initial period of development prior to the bust of the 1890s and subsequent housing boom of the early 20th Century, in which much of Coburg's residential development occurred.
The Grove, was part of the Moreland Park Estate. This was Coburg's most prestigious subdivision in the 1880s. In 1882 Charles Moreland Montague Dare, a St Kilda businessman, bought Jean Rennie's forty acre farm and, with his architect, T. J. Crouch, subdivided thirty acres of it into 147 allotments. The Grove was originally christened Moreland Grove after its owner. A covenant was placed on the subdivision prohibiting the building of hotels or shops, or any house under the value of 400 pounds. By 1890 there were twenty-four brick houses on the estate, twenty one of them owned by Charles Moreland Montague Dare himself. There was a caretaker to tend the streets, the wooden pavilion and the tennis courts, which soon became a bowling rink to suit the more sedate interests of the residents. Men of substance, including a banker, a merchant, a manufacturer and several civil servants and accountants lived on the estate and the Moreland Park Ladies' College in The Grove offered a genteel education. By the 1890s the Melbourne property boom had burst and by 1900 there were still only twenty seven houses in The Grove and many vacant allotments; Charles Moreland Montague Dare's own place at "Moreland Park", a ten acre property on Merri Creek, added to the rural atmosphere. In 1896 Dare fell into financial difficulties and had to transfer many of his properties to the Australian Widows' Fund Life Assurance Society. In 1900 he owned only seven houses, a few allotments and Moreland Park. He died in 1919.
"Bailey's Mansion" is a magnificent boom period mansion built in 1883 for successful mine manager William Bailey on the corner of Drummond and Mair Streets, in the provincial Victorian city of Ballarat.
William Bailey was born in 1827 in Wellington, Somersetshire, and came to Australia in 1848. He landed at Melbourne and was employed at a wine and spirit merchants however he remained only a short time, and he also had a short stay of eight months at the Ampitheatre Station, Lexton, when he was made manager at the Mt Cook Station, Werribee. He left Mt Cook Station in 1851, having been bitten, like so many others, by gold fever. After initially being involved in mining he entered into partnership with Wilson Brothers in the operation of general stores. Bailey returned to mining with the Staffordshire Reef Company near Smythesdale where he remained for three years as manager before accepting a similar managerial position with the Egerton Mining Company where he was occupied for the next 12 years. The mine was owned by the renowned Learmonth family. Bailey was a loyal manager and when the Learmonths decided to sell the mine he arranged the sale. As a reward the Learmonths paid him a five per cent commission on the sale amounting to 675 pounds, a very sizable sum even in those days. At the time of the sale the returns from the mine had been diminishing, and when the Learmonths paid him his sizeable commission they were unaware that they had rewarded him for arranging the sale of a mine of which he was actually now a part owner. Fortunately, almost immediately after the mine was sold its returns increased dramatically and William Bailey was left a very wealthy man.
For the princely sum of £1,400, William Bailey had a Victorian Italianate mansion, complete with tower, designed by architects Caselli and Figgis. William Bailey and his wife Emily had eight children between 1861 and 1876, so the mansion, described as "one of the most palatial homes in Ballarat" was extended further and had an extra wing added, but in the same style.
The mansion features many architectural elements used in Italianate style houses of the period beyond the typical prominent tower, including; Corinthian columns, arcaded loggias, grouped openings, the use of arches and stuccoed wall treatment. When William built the mansion it originally had cast iron verandah posts, frieze and corner brackets along the loggias, both up and downstairs. The present heavy Ionic columns being a later modification which are not so in keeping with the overall design of the house.
Originally, "Bailey's Mansion" sat amid large and decoratively ornamental gardens, most of which have since been consumed by subsequent divisions of the land and residential construction in the early years of the Twentieth Century.
It was in his beloved mansion that William Bailey died in 1906 after catching a chill, dying a happy and still wealthy man, leaving an estate of some £10,000.
After the Great War (1914 - 1918), like so many other wealthy families of the boom period, the Baileys "gilded age" had come to a shattering end. Rates, death duties and income tax had deminished the family to far more moderate means. The "servant problem" also left them unable to live on such a grand scale as William and Emily had done. They could not sell the mansion, as no-one had the means to maintain, or the wish, to live in an old mausoleum of a bygone age in the new century. There was also a local belief that it was haunted by Bailey's ghost, which made it impossible to sell. "Bailey's Mansion", now deserted, fell into dereliction.
Salvation arrived for the grand old house in 1915 when the Catholic Church acquired it for a mere £4000, £10,000 less than its original cost and a bargain, even in the depressed property market immediately after the First World War. The church restored "Bailey's Mansion" and used it to form the St John of God hospital in Ballarat. It is still an intergal part of the hospital today, the grande dame surviving as a testimony to the wealth and tenacity of its original owner.
Rosettes flower and geometric pattern of the famous glazed bricks friezes found in the apadana (Darius the Great's palace) in Susa (Shush) by french archeologist Marcel Dieulafoy and brought in Paris. Such polychromic friezes used to decorate the walls of the Achaemenian king's palaces in their capitales of Shush, Ecbatan, and Persepolis.
Pavillon Sully at the Louvre museum, Paris, France, March 2010
Rosettes et motifs géométriques décorant les fameuses frises de céramique en briques cuites à glaçures trouvées dans le tell de l’Apadana (palais de Darius le Grand) à Suse (Shush) par l’archéologue français marcel Dieulafoy et ramenées à Paris. De telles frises polychromiques décoraient les façades des palais royaux achéménides dans leurs capitales d’Ecbatane, Suse et Persépolis.
Pavillon Sully, musée du Louvre, Paris, France, Mars 2010
Standing behind a neat picket fence, this Reformist (Arts and Crafts) style Edwardian villa would have been built in the decade after Australian Federation in 1901.
The wonderful stepped central gable is very Arts and Crafts inspired, as is the shingling under the gable. What is unusual is the choice of weatherboard for the construction, as most Arts and Crafts style homes tended to be built of brick. Unlike its more stylised Queen Anne neighbours, this villa has no stained glass in any of its windows, only leadlight panels set in rather geometric Art Deco style patters in the upper panes of the bay window.
Arts and Crafts houses challenged the formality of the mid and high Victorian styles that preceded it, and were often designed with uniquely angular floor plans. This villa appears to be no exception to the rule, with the main entrance to the house to the right hand side of the building.
This style of house would have appealed to the merchant middle-classes of Ballarat whose money came from supporting the Nineteenth Century gold rush through commerce and industry well into the Twenthieth Century. Comfortable and very English, it would have shown respectable and not inconsiderable wealth.
The Pantheon (126 AD)
Architect: Apollodorus of Damascus.
Piazza della Rotonda.
Rome, Lazio, Italy.
Technical data: Nikon D800 | Nikkor AF-S 14-24 mm f/2.8G ED at 14mm. 1/8s | f/8 | ISO 100.
Processing: Lightroom 4 | Nik Silver Efex Pro 2
Collection: A. D. White Architectural Photographs, Cornell University Library
Accession Number: 15/5/3090.00669
Title: Model of The Nunnery [Las Monjas], Uxmal, for 1933 Chicago World's Fair
Model maker: G. Kramer
Photograph date: ca. 1933
Building Date: ca. 600-ca. 900
Materials: gelatin silver print
Image: 7 3/4 x 13 1/2 in.; 19.685 x 34.29 cm
Style: Mayan
Provenance: Transfer from the College of Architecture, Art and Planning
Persistent URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1813.001/5ss5
There are no known U.S. copyright restrictions on this image. The digital file is owned by the Cornell University Library which is making it freely available with the request that, when possible, the Library be credited as its source.
We had some help with the geocoding from Web Services by Yahoo!
Plamtrees and geometric pattern of the famous glazed bricks friezes found in the apadana (Darius the Great's palace) in Susa (Shush) by french archeologist Marcel Dieulafoy and brought in Paris. Such polychromic friezes used to decorate the walls of the Achaemenian king's palaces in their capitales of Shush, Ecbatan, and Persepolis.
Pavillon Sully at the Louvre museum, Paris, France, March 2010
Plamiers et motifs géométriques décorant les fameuses frises de céramique en briques cuites à glaçures trouvées dans le tell de l’Apadana (palais de Darius le Grand) à Suse (Shush) par l’archéologue français marcel Dieulafoy et ramenées à Paris. De telles frises polychromiques décoraient les façades des palais royaux achéménides dans leurs capitales d’Ecbatane, Suse et Persépolis.
Pavillon Sully, musée du Louvre, Paris, France, Mars 2010
Styles & attitudes ...
Some glittering pieces of trend
#pfw16 # #paris #glitter #brillant #metaliccolors #strasses #fashion #trend #geometricpatterns #geometry #streetstyleparis #streetstyle #mode #skirts #navystyle #colors #beauties #stylishpeople #
Collection: Cornell University Collection of Political Americana, Cornell University Library
Repository: Susan H. Douglas Political Americana Collection, #2214 Rare & Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, Cornell University
Title: 1896 Republican National Convention Admission Tickets and Envelope
Political Party: Republican
Election Year: 1896
Date Made: ca. 1896
Classification: Envelopes
Persistent URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1813.001/619x
There are no known U.S. copyright restrictions on this image. The digital file is owned by the Cornell University Library which is making it freely available with the request that, when possible, the Library be credited as its source.
Loreto College Ballarat, a Catholic school for girls was established in 1875 by Mother Gonzaga Barry (1834 – 1915) a member of the order of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary whose members are commonly known as the Sisters of Loreto; a courageous woman with a truly visionary approach that saw her create educational opportunities for girls never before considered in the society of that day. The Loreto Sisters arrived in Australia in response to a request by the Bishop of Ballarat, Bishop O'Connell. The group of ten sisters from Ireland, led by Mother Gonzaga Barry, set up a convent in Ballarat, Victoria and their first girls school, known as Mary's Mount, which today is known as Loreto College.
The Loreto Chapel, or Children’s Chapel as it is known, was built between 1898 and 1902. The architect was William Tappin and the builder George Lorimer. It is built in an English Gothic style with French influences. The stone from which it is constructed is Barrabool Hills sandstone taken from a quarry near Geelong. It also features white stone detailing from Oamaru in New Zealand. Building was interrupted through lack of funds, but the project was finally completed with a large bequest from the German Countess Elizabeth Wolff-Metternich, who had arrived at Ballarat unannounced in 1898, was captivated by the post Gold Rush city and decided to teach German to the Loreto students. A direct descendent of St Elizabeth of Hungary, Countess Elizabeth later found that she loved the peace and simplicity of the Mary's Mount cloister, and informed Mother Gonzaga that she wished to be accepted as a novice. The Mother Superior urged the young woman to return to Germany to discuss her future with her family prior to making a decision. Sadly, Countess Elizabeth was never to return to Ballarat: tragedy struck the RMS India, in the Straits of Messina en route Europe, when Countess Elizabeth died suddenly in April 1899, possibly from cholera, as she was nursing sick passengers on board the ship during its journey. When her will was read, it was found that Countess Elizabeth had left a generous 16,000 pounds to the astonished Mother Gonzaga to `be used as she thought fit'. Funds were once again available to finish the Children's Chapel, but there was to be another, seemingly impenetrable, obstacle: Germany had instituted a law forbidding money to be sent out of the country, so the funds remained frozen in Germany indefinitely. However, Countess Elizabeth's relatives contacted their distant relative, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany (eldest grandson of England's Queen Victoria and Prince Albert) to petition that the funds be released for the Australian convent. It was only through the direct intervention of the Kaiser that the law was waived in this particular case. The Children’s Chapel was officially opened in December 1902.
The inside of the Children’s Chapel is decorated in soft pastel colours with artwork and statuary donated to the Sisters of Loreto by families in Ballarat and back in Ireland. The Rose Window over the Organ Gallery depicts Saint Cecilia the patron saint of music, surrounded by symbols of the four Evangelists, Matthew Mark Luke and John. The windows over the alter depict the instruments of the Passion of Christ. The marble alter features the Nativity scene as was requested by the girls attending Loreto at the time.
Collection: Cornell University Collection of Political Americana, Cornell University Library
Repository: Susan H. Douglas Political Americana Collection, #2214 Rare & Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, Cornell University
Title: 1900 Republican National Convention Admission Ticket
Political Party: Republican
Election Year: 1900
Date Made: 1900
Measurement: Ticket & Stub: 2 5/8 x 6 in.; 6.6675 x 15.24 cm
Classification: Ephemera
Persistent URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1813.001/61b0
There are no known U.S. copyright restrictions on this image. The digital file is owned by the Cornell University Library which is making it freely available with the request that, when possible, the Library be credited as its source.
The "Brightlea" flats are a two storey complex in the Melbourne suburb of Balaclava. Their facade of white stuccoed brick is very Art Deco in style. The speed lines picked out in clinker brick around the walls, the stepped chimney with its geometric pattern also picked out in clinker bricks, the rounded portico bearing the name "Brighlea" in stylised Deco lettering and the streamlined windows all pay homage to the chic, uncluttered lines of Art Deco architecture. The low fence with its pyramid peaked pillars are also very Art Deco, and perhaps pay homage to the Egyptomania of the 1920s.
"Brightlea" probably takes it name from Brightlea in England which is located within the county of Tyne and Wear which is in the north east region of England.
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.
Flats like those found in the "Brightlea" complex would have suited those of comfortable means who could afford to live in Balacalva, and dispense with the difficulties of keeping a large retinue of staff. With clean lines and large windows, it mirrored the prevailing uncluttered lines of architecture that came out of England after the war.
Built in the late 1930s, this very stylised Art Deco villa can be found in the Melbourne suburb of Travancore. The rounded roofline featuring speed lines and the horizontal focus of the design of the house all pay homage to the chic, uncluttered lines of Functionalist Moderne Art Deco architecture, which often featured a horizontal emphasis.
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. This medium-sized residence was built on the lowest section of the hill which the Travancore estate once covered, however, its owners had it elevated to allow views over the trees of the parkland, and it is approached by way of a wide sweeping set of stairs which cut their way through a terraced garden. This would suggest it may have been acquired by an aspiring middle-class family who wanted modernity and had enough money to build in the area. The mistress of this house would probably have kept it without any help from outside except for a "daily" woman to do the harder, more manual chores.
"Carwel" is a wonderfully stylised Streamline Moderne Art Deco Villa in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon. The house name is written in Old English script above the lamp in the centre of the portico.
The villa is large and stand alone, with its original garage next to it. The clean uncluttered lines of "Carwel", the speed lines around the pedement of the rounded portico, down the chimney and across the facade around the windows, feature bricks in geometric patterns on the portico and the overall low slung design of the house are very Streamline Moderne in design. It also features leadlight windows with a beautiful Art Deco sunburst pattern picked out in frosted, bevilled and plain glass.
The whole property is surrounded by "Carwel's" original low brick wall featuring brick nogging and its original wrought-iron gate.
Essendon was etablished in the 1860s and became an area of affluence and therefore only had middle-class, upper middle-class and some very wealthy citizens. Modern villas like these were very much the style of home that aspirational middle-class families in the 1930s saught. Although very fashionable in style, it is not too showy, yet represented the comfort and modernity that the burgeoning Australian middle-class wanted.
The amazing Kikagaku Moyo playing at Blaue Fabrik (Dresden, Germany) on a magical summer night in June 2016.
Listen: geometricpatterns.bandcamp.com/
This Arts and Crafts style complex of flats may be found in the Melbourne suburb of Elwood.
Built in Arts and Crafts style, the flats have a mixture of exposed red brick and stuccoed brick walls which was a typical element of the movement, as are the half timbered gables and the wooden fretwork up under the eaves. The patterns set into the brickwork, particularly those around the bulls-eye window are especially fine, and a tribute to the craftsman that created them.
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.
Flats like these would have suited those of comfortable means who could afford to live in Elwood, and dispense with the difficulties of keeping a large retinue of staff. With its simple style, it mirrored the prevailing uncluttered lines of architecture that came out of England after the war.
"Bailey's Mansion" is a magnificent boom period mansion built in 1883 for successful mine manager William Bailey on the corner of Drummond and Mair Streets, in the provincial Victorian city of Ballarat.
William Bailey was born in 1827 in Wellington, Somersetshire, and came to Australia in 1848. He landed at Melbourne and was employed at a wine and spirit merchants however he remained only a short time, and he also had a short stay of eight months at the Ampitheatre Station, Lexton, when he was made manager at the Mt Cook Station, Werribee. He left Mt Cook Station in 1851, having been bitten, like so many others, by gold fever. After initially being involved in mining he entered into partnership with Wilson Brothers in the operation of general stores. Bailey returned to mining with the Staffordshire Reef Company near Smythesdale where he remained for three years as manager before accepting a similar managerial position with the Egerton Mining Company where he was occupied for the next 12 years. The mine was owned by the renowned Learmonth family. Bailey was a loyal manager and when the Learmonths decided to sell the mine he arranged the sale. As a reward the Learmonths paid him a five per cent commission on the sale amounting to 675 pounds, a very sizable sum even in those days. At the time of the sale the returns from the mine had been diminishing, and when the Learmonths paid him his sizeable commission they were unaware that they had rewarded him for arranging the sale of a mine of which he was actually now a part owner. Fortunately, almost immediately after the mine was sold its returns increased dramatically and William Bailey was left a very wealthy man.
For the princely sum of £1,400, William Bailey had a Victorian Italianate mansion, complete with tower, designed by architects Caselli and Figgis. William Bailey and his wife Emily had eight children between 1861 and 1876, so the mansion, described as "one of the most palatial homes in Ballarat" was extended further and had an extra wing added, but in the same style.
The mansion features many architectural elements used in Italianate style houses of the period beyond the typical prominent tower, including; Corinthian columns, arcaded loggias, grouped openings, the use of arches and stuccoed wall treatment. When William built the mansion it originally had cast iron verandah posts, frieze and corner brackets along the loggias, both up and downstairs. The present heavy Ionic columns being a later modification which are not so in keeping with the overall design of the house.
Originally, "Bailey's Mansion" sat amid large and decoratively ornamental gardens, most of which have since been consumed by subsequent divisions of the land and residential construction in the early years of the Twentieth Century.
It was in his beloved mansion that William Bailey died in 1906 after catching a chill, dying a happy and still wealthy man, leaving an estate of some £10,000.
After the Great War (1914 - 1918), like so many other wealthy families of the boom period, the Baileys "gilded age" had come to a shattering end. Rates, death duties and income tax had deminished the family to far more moderate means. The "servant problem" also left them unable to live on such a grand scale as William and Emily had done. They could not sell the mansion, as no-one had the means to maintain, or the wish, to live in an old mausoleum of a bygone age in the new century. There was also a local belief that it was haunted by Bailey's ghost, which made it impossible to sell. "Bailey's Mansion", now deserted, fell into dereliction.
Salvation arrived for the grand old house in 1915 when the Catholic Church acquired it for a mere £4000, £10,000 less than its original cost and a bargain, even in the depressed property market immediately after the First World War. The church restored "Bailey's Mansion" and used it to form the St John of God hospital in Ballarat. It is still an intergal part of the hospital today, the grande dame surviving as a testimony to the wealth and tenacity of its original owner.