The Deco’s in the Detail – Art Deco Features in the San Francisco Financial District
by Lachlan Finlayson The west coast of the USA has long been synonymous with Streamline Moderne and Art Deco architecture, and although many fine examples have sadly been lost over the years, there’s still plenty to enjoy. Globetrotter, Art Deco admirer, and regular ADSUK contributor Lachlan Finlayson explores San Francisco’s financial district, camera in hand…. […]
A Feast of Colours and Forms – Central Melbourne’s 1930s Architectural Gems
Words and photos by Lachlan Finlayson Melbourne is considered Australia’s second biggest city, slightly smaller than Sydney, and is the capital of the State of Victoria. It has multiple areas with fine examples of Art Deco architecture, including office buildings, residential buildings, public infrastructure and recreational facilities. On a recent trip down-under, I enjoyed visiting […]
A rural Art Deco township in New Zealand
ADSUK member Craig Stephen discovers an Art Deco oasis smack bang in rural New Zealand. Photos by Craig. In a former goldfield region in the South Island, among tussock grasslands, rocky outcrops and traditional rural townships, lies an unlikely myriad of Art Deco buildings. Welcome to Ranfurly in the province of Otago, a small town […]
Art Deco Roots in Hamburg
Words and photos by Lachlan Finlayson, edited and expanded by Adam Watson Brown Hamburg is probably best known for Brick Expressionist architecture, but there are many buildings from the post-World War One era that incorporate elements of later Art Deco design. On my recent trip I enjoyed visiting and photographing both the exterior and interior […]
Milk & Modernism – The Rise and Fall of the Torrington Creamery
Words and photos by Philip Butler (unless stated) Imagine, if you will, it’s 1952, and you find yourself in a sprawling state of the art, industrial-scale dairy in north Devon. A substantial rebuilding programme has just been completed and you are met with a sweeping streamline complex displaying elements of both pre and post-war design […]
Art Deco Highlights of Wellington, New Zealand
by Lachlan Finlayson New Zealand’s premier destination for Art Deco lovers is surely Napier, a city on the east coast of the North Island. It suffered a severe earthquake in 1931, destroying much of the town centre. The subsequent rebuild was executed mainly in the Art Deco Streamline style, and today is a popular tourist […]
The de Havilland Comet Racers
by Guy Inchbald The Golden Age of aviation lasted from the early 1920s until the outbreak of World War II, coinciding almost exactly with the Art Deco period. It was an age of high glamour and high adventure as the great pioneers such as Amy Johnson opened up the world. Art Deco could not help […]
Salon de la Perfumerie
by Lucy Jane Santos, historian and consultant and writer of The Deco Echo For more of an overview of L’ Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes read With 15,000 exhibitors spread across twenty countries, there was a real need for the exhibits to be divided into categories. So, the displays were separated into […]
Babylon is Burning
by Lorna Mcculloch The trajectory for Scottish Art Deco cinema builds seems to be; opulent place of the cinematic arts, Bingo Hall, sticky floored 90’s nightclubs called Babylon and finally blocks of flats. Greenock’s Babylon has been burned (or rather razed). When the former Odeon BB Cinema and Babylon nightclub closed, circa 2013, the building […]
Radios as Design Icons of the Twenties and Thirties
by Paul Stewart Having been a collector and restorer of early and rare radio receivers for over twenty years, the Society’s president delves back to the darkest days of broadcasting and reveals how Art Deco and Modernist design helped consumers accept this new medium into their homes. We’re all familiar with the scene of families […]