Avalon Hotel, Miami South Beach

When you go to Miami South Beach, make sure you give yourself enough time to see all the Deco and MiMo (Miami Modern) buildings. Actually, it would take a long time to see them all but you should try to take a guided tour from the Miami Design Preservation League.

At the very least you must walk down Ocean Drive both during the day and at night. The hotels and other buildings along the ocean front are fantastic but they take on a different aspect when lit up after sunset.

This is a night-time view of the Avalon Hotel. The neon lettering of the name naturally stand out in the dark but also a single white spotlight really highlights the features of the building especially the eyebrows over the windows.

ABC Cinema, Brighton

The ABC Cinema (1930) in Brighton was designed by William Glen.

The cinema closed in 1999 and onverted to a casino. This picture was taken around that time. The films showing are The Haunting, Eyes Wide Shut, The Trench and The General's Daughter.

Hastings McLeod, Christchurch

I think this is the former State Fire and Accident Insurance Office in Christchurch now used mainly by the Real Estate company Hastings McLeod.

In any case, the State Fire and Accident Insurance Office (1933-34) was designed by Cecil Walter Wood and there are a few clues that this could be the same building.

The first is this magnificent stylised flame motif that appears below each window.

And the graduated red paintwork on the columns is somewhat flame-like and is perhaps a subtle reminder of the building's former use.

The doorway appears to have been changed with a porch added requiring one of the flames to be covered. The complex deco patterns (perhaps Maori inspired) on either side of the transom window are still visible.

Sussan Building, West Melbourne

There are many aspects of the Sussan Building in West Melbourne.

Firstly, the building has been designed to make the best use of the site especially the way it curves to follow the obtuse angle of the adjoining street. Also as the main street runs downhill, the lower floor expands leaving the roofline at a constant level.

The main entrance is marked by a square parapet with a circular demi-tower. There is also a squat flagpole with a double finial on top.

At the far end of the building in a square tower containing a stairwell and my favourite piece of decoration. The space above the narrow doorway at the base of the tower is dominated by this wonderful piece of deco masonry.

Melbourne Art Deco Calendar

I been having some fun over the last few days on a site I've just discovered called Red Bubble.

It is a site where artists can present their work to a global audience and potentially sell them in various formats including greetings cards, laminated prints and framed prints.

I created a calendar featuring some of the Art Deco architectural details from around Melbourne.

Click on the cover above or the link below if you want to have a look at the photos I selected for the calendar or maybe even buy it !!!

Melbourne Art Deco Calendar

Diamond House, Melbourne

Dating from 1936, by HW & FB Tompkins.

Sitting opposite Myers in Bourke Street Mall, the name across the rooline says it all.

Asmara Wine & Liquor Factory, Asmara

Looking at this picture of the Asmara Wine & Liquor Factory reminds me so much of this city once you are away from the main streets of Liberation and Martyr's Avenues. The wide, almost dusty, streets are all but deserted, certainly there are very few cars. And more often than not the most memorable colour is the purple of the bougainvillea.

The building itself is a long horizontal mass arranged asymetrically around the entrance. Two rows of irregularly spaced windows which perhaps have been altered over time. As can be seen in the second picture, it seems unusual to me for the windows of the separate floors to be so different.

I like the light green band along the roofline bearing the incomplete name of the factory and the scale of the yellow rectangular element around the doorway and the 15 panes of glass above it. It looks like the arrangement of glass and the doors occupy the same area on the facade making the haphazardness of the other windows more puzzling.