Jardin Botanique de Montréal

The Botanical Gardens in Montreal were establised in 1931 but it wasn't until 1937 that the main Administration Building was constructed.

The building was designed by Lucien F Kéroack with reliefs by Joseph Guardo and Henri Hérbert.

This relief by Hérbert above the door to the Administration Building shows two girls enacting the rhyme "Queen of the Meadows, Tell me the truth", pulling the petals from a daisy.

Other reliefs on the exterior of the building will be the subject of tomorrows post.

The foyer is relatively plain with Art Deco style lighting, curved heating units under the windows at the base of the two sets of stairs that climb from each side of the reception area and feature these metal handrails.

The flooring includes this wonderful pattern of stylised lillies.

Jardin Botanique de Montréal

The Botanical Gardens in Montreal were established throughout the 1930s.

This typically Art Deco fountain is in front of the Administration Building. The stepped design is obvious to even a casual glance but there are also reliefs featuring native fauna.

The beaver is a local favourite.

The fountain stretches through the gardens in a series of shallow pools.

From this angle the lines of the fountain echo the stepped roofline of the central section of the Botanical Gardens Administration Building.

This side of the fountain allows the water from the higher level to pass through a number of holes to the pools mentioned previously.

It features two reliefs of cranes or similar long-legged water birds wading among the bullrushes.

Each bird is different from the other providing a naturalistic yet still symetrical arrangement.

The main passage for the transfer of water to this side of the fountain is through the mouth of a mythical figure.

Cairo Flats, Fitzroy

In a recent email, Brian from the Fitzroyalty website expressed surprise that I hadn't written about a block of flats called Cairo in Nicholson St, Fitzroy and did I know of them.

I didn't have to think for long because I do know of them but the gardens are so overgrown that it is difficult to get a clear photo. He got me thinking though and I had a look at his post on Cairo from January 2009.

From my point of view the best part of Brian's article is the use of photos from the archives which show the flats soon after they were built and before the garden matured.

Then I read Philip Goad's article, Best Overend - Pioneer Modernist in Melbourne from Fabrications : The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand, Vol 6 published in 1995/6. It is a great read.

In 1931, in his early 20s, Best Overend went to London and worked for 18 months as Chief Draughtsman for Wells Coates. Returning to Melbourne in 1933, Overend, having passed his Royal Institute of British Architech exams while in London, joined the architectural firm of H Vivian Taylor and G A Soilleux.

Overend designed Cairo in 1935 as a U-shaped block of minimum flats with a communal dining room. The block also had two communal laundries on the roof and garages at the rear of the property.

Certainly there is an interesting connection to the Lawn Road Flats which Wells Coates designed in 1932 when Overend was working for him in London.

The outstanding feature of the Cairo flats is the cantilevered stairs at the centre of the block at the bottom of the 'U'.

My photo does not do them justice but there is an excellent archival photo in Brian's aforementioned artice which really shows how astounding these stairs are.

former Collingwood Technical College, Collingwood

The former Collingwood Technical College is a bit of a hidden gem in Melbourne's Art Deco landscape and international street art in general.

The building was designed by Public Works Department architect Percy Everitt in 1943 and this picture (above) shows the former main entrance. It has a cyclone fence across it now so it does look a bit neglected but at least it has been preserved.

A new entrance has been created around the corner where the former college is much more streamline with long horizontal bands of windows and cream coloured brick.

After facing the threat of demolition a few years ago, the former Tech is now used as a Neighbourhood Justice Centre by the State Government.

The twist in the history of the former college comes in 1984 when New York street artist Keith Haring visited Melbourne and painted the wall facing the car park. It features Haring's trademark simple figures with a large centipede with a computer for a head along the top.

former Toronto Hydro-Electric Building

According to Tim Morawetz in Art Deco Architecture in Toronto, the Toronto Hydro-Electric Building was constructed from 1931 to 1933 from designs by architects Chapman and Oxley with associate Albert E Salisbury.

From a distance the buildng is very plain except for the decoration along the roofline. Originally the building was intended to be much taller so the current roofline is a band of decoration that would have appeared part-up up the original design.

The central four spandrels of the building are topped which these figures overlooking the street below.

A closer look between the modern t-shirt decals above the ground floor windows also reveals two pairs of relief panels.

The two smaller panels, in my opinion, show woman working with a ribbon of electricity bringing power to a number of home appliances and a man using another ribbon of power in an industrial setting.

The larger reliefs depict figures in a stylised settings perhaps relating to the generation and transmission of electric power.

I particularily like the wavy hair of the figure against the electricity wires in this relief.

Apartments, Cape Town

I snapped this apartment block from one of our bus tours at the 2003 World Congress on Art Deco in Cape Town.

It is always great to see when original open balconies have been retained and no doubt the South African climate helps in this regard.

The windows are relatively small. Again this is probably a reaction to the local climate, an attempt to keep the flats cool during summer. And I do like the way they are cut through the corners of the block.

Rose, Shamrock & Thistle Hotel, Paddington

If I were to sum up how I picture the typical Sydney Art Deco pub it would feature dark brown bricks with cream banding.

This is the Rose, Shamrock and Thistle Hotel in Paddo dating probably from the late 1930s.

It is probably not as streamline as many of Sydney's pubs but I like the way the windows on the right-hand side of the second and third storey curve into the space of the open balcony.