Unicorn Hotel, Paddington

The Unicorn Hotel in Oxford St, Paddington is another typical Sydney streamline brick pub.

I especially like the unicorn and the rule of three supports at the base of the flagpole.

Town Hall Extension, Maryborough

In 1939 a new streamline moderne entrance and an additional small hall were added to the side of the 1888 Maryborough Town Hall in central Victoria. The extension was designed by Melbourne architect Harry J Little.

West Torrens District Council, Adelaide

As you can see from the date on the West Torrens District Council offices in Adelaide they were built in 1935.

The stylised lettering is typically deco and I especially like the letter 'S'.

This building illustrates another Art Deco trait with the main entrance set into the corner of the building.

Warwick Court, St Kilda East

I absolutely love these four garages at Warwick Court in St Kilda East. It is lovely to see the original doors still intact. I reckon I could just fit my car into one of the garages but I'm not sure I could open the car door to get out once I was in there.

Agra, Camberwell

This is an interesting residence called Agra on the Golf Links Estate in Camberwell. I especially like the quarter-circle balcony and the stepped brick supports and simple metal ballustrade on the other small balcony.

Nedlands Tennis Club, Perth

Nedlands Tennis Club was formed in 1925 with their current clubhouse dating from 1938.

The Assessment Document for the Heritage Council of Western Australia Register of Heritage Places lists Adelaide-born architect Harold Krantz as the designer of this fine interwar sports pavillion.

Gibb & Miller Ltd, Port Adelaide

This squat horizontal building is Gibb & Miller Ltd Engineers in Port Adelaide.

I can't imagine that the narrow band of windows along the front of the building let in much, if any, light but no doubt there would be windows in the roof to provide light.

The perfectly proportioned lettering spelling out the company name adds to the simplicity of the facade but my favourite is the metal "GM" monogram above the entrance.

Guildford Town Hall, Perth

The former Guildford Town Hall is a fabulous Art Deco building dating from 1938.

Now included as part of the City of Swan it is no longer required as a Town Hall but it has been retained for functions and other events.

The Guildford Town Hall is charactised by the lack of decoration with the only elements being the name in stylised Art Deco lettering on the semi-circular portico and the coats of arms featuring a large anchor at the top of the tower.

Mont Clair, Darlinghurst

This fabulous brickwork belongs to Mont Clair in Darlinghurst in inner Sydney.

A detailed Heritage Study completed in 200o by Rod Howard Heritage Conservation Pty Ltd indicates that the block was designed in 1937 by architect firm Esmond B Wiltshire & Hodges.

The newly constructed flats were featured in Decoration and Glass, August 1938 where many of the internal features are highlighted including the Bent Glass used in the curved windows of the facade.

Phylstan, St Kilda East

This is Phylstan, a streamline house in St Kilda East.

I like the use of contrasting dark brown bricks for the base of the house and as decoration in two bands around the roofline. The stepped chimney is also constructed from these dark bricks and the two-tone decoration is continued in the low wall surrounding the front garden.

To the right of the entrance the house has a beautiful curve and a curved glass window which I assume looks out from the loungeroom.

The curve is echoed in the concrete shelter of the porch which also bears an interesting design of repeating semi-circles which is reminiscent to woodwork I have seen on the verandahs of older Victorian and early Edwardian weatherboard houses in inner other inner Melbourne suburbs.

At the rear of the house there is this matching double garage. A planning permit sign attached to the fence indicates a proposed extension including the demolition of the garage. Which is a shame.

Traffic Islands, Golf Links Estate, Camberwell

The Golf Links Estate in Camberwell is a wonderful collection of interwar houses but when I visited a week or so ago I was taken by the these small traffic islands.

I saw two and as you can see they are triangular in shape with a round light on a concrete support in the middle of the island.

The streets in the estate are quite narrow by today's standards and it is good to see that the traffic islands have survived where surely there would have been pressure to shrink them to aid the flow of cars through the intersection.

El Sonia, St Kilda East

El Sonia in St Kilda East is wonderful mish-mash of deco styles.

A central entrance tower with glass bricks, two Art Deco decorative panels, El Sonia spelt out in cursive metal work and flanked by two small rounded balconies.

Two original garages with wooden doors and small windows and maybe with the move to a greener world cars might fit through those narrow openings once more.

Then there is that almost clumsy square open balcony above one of the garages not to mention the conventional (but practical for Melbourne's weather) pitched tile roof.

If you look carefully on the nearest rounded balcony you'll see, alongside the Australian flag, a Geelong FC flag. Deep in enemy territory, so to speak, but Australian Rules Football, in general, is not like that.

Congratulations to Geelong in the Grand Final yesterday. They have been an awesome team over the past three years.

For St Kilda - heaven can wait.

Carn the Saints

St Kilda Town Hall

No prizes for picking St Kilda Town Hall as a fairly substantial Victorian building but ... well it's Grand Final week and the Saints are in the Grand Final for the first time since 1997. We've only won it once in 1966. Maybe 2009 will be our year if we can defeat a fantastic Geelong team.

As you can see the City of Port Phillip, which now includes the former City of St Kilda has decorated the Town Hall in the Red, White and Black of the Sainters.

But this is an Art Deco blog, so in that spirit the portico, although not deco was built in 1925 and some deco elements can be seen in the glasswork of the doors.

In 1939 further alterations were made to the Town Hall and some interior features have an Art Deco feel.

In the 1990s a fire badly damaged the building but was quickly restored with a remodelled auditorium. The Town Hall has been extended and reworked in recent years providing among other things gallery space and better staff facilities.

GO SAINTS

Centenary Hall, Melbourne Showgrounds

I went to the Royal Melbourne Show yesterday for the first time in yonks. I remember the first time I went was Grand Final day 1975 with my parents. It was our first year in Australia and we choose the Show over the footy. I've never made that mistake again.

The Show was good fun and in a first for me I watched the dog judging because friends of mine were showing their Briards and they all won prizes.

Next door to the Dog Pavilion is Centenary Hall. It was opened during the 1934 Show to commemorate the Centenary of Victoria that year.

In 2005, the State Government restored Centenary Hall as part of a wider redevelopment of the Showgrounds.

Woodside, Camberwell

As the name suggests, the Golf Links Estate in Camberwell was built on a former golf course and is considered one of the best interwar suburbs in Melbourne.

This is Woodside with its name worked into the ironwork of the gate. A concrete path leads past a garden light to the front door, well protected by a substantial porch.

The front garden is surrounded by a short cream coloured wall supported on a base of dark bricks and capped with a strip of brown. The step-down of the wall mirroring the split level of the enclosed garden.

Public Conveniences, St Kilda

I don't know if it is a particular Art Deco fascination or not but on every Art Deco tour we like to check out the bathrooms and toilets. From the fabulous rest room at Radio City Music Hall in NYC to the most humble house the bathroom is often a treasure trove of deco features. As Robin Grow, noted author and President of the Art Deco and Modernist Society would say in his best Aussie slang, 'we love a good deco dunny'.

These Public Conveniences are cut in the the garden embankment between Jacka Boulevard and Upper Esplanade in the Melbourne seaside suburb of St Kilda.

I doubt they are a 'treasure trove of deco' inside but the streamline lines and mushroom light provide a wonderful exterior.

Although there is no overt signage identifying the Public Toilets on Upper Esplanade, they are marked by a pair of fabulous Art Deco pillars.

Park Towers, South Yarra

Park Towers is an impressive block of flats in South Yarra.

Designed by Arthur W Plaisted, the flats were constructed in 1938. They consist of two blocks facing each other forming a central courtyard which is open to the street.

The main features of the blocks are the curved windows and balconies (some of which have been enclosed), the metalwork on the ballustrades and the decorative elements around the roofline.

There is a 'chequerboard-like' pattern on the blocks at the ceiling level of the first floor and the entrance to each block is decorated with stunning green tiles.