Sydney Art Deco Heritage

Although a long way from Sydney I thought I would include this building in China. The Bank of China building in Shanghai in the French Concession area is a great example of Art Deco styling adapted for use on a modern building. The imaginative blending of modern glass and building materials with classic Art Deco styling has been achieved with great success. The soaring vertical lines give the building a monumental feel while the detail in the facade and lamps is straight out of the 1930s. Facade detail More facade detail The light fixtures are wonderful examples of modern interpretations of style of the 1930's.

The Telford Trust building at 261 George Street in the Sydney CBD is also known as Feltex House and Interocean House. It was built in 1939 by Concrete Constructions Ltd and was designed by Adam, Wright & Apperly. Originally only three storeys the building was sympathetically extended to nine storeys in 1961 by Buchanan, Felton and Lovell. It is an outstanding example of InterWar Functionalist style and notable for its wide unbroken expanses of glass and horizontal spandrel panels curved at the street corner. Facade detail Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

Dorchester House at 149 Macquarie Street in Sydney was designed in 1936 by Aaron Bolot. It is an elegant and slim building built on a tiny block. The entire frontage being only twenty two feet. Executed in red texture brick with keystones and bands of bricks in darker shades the eight storey building includes professional offices. On the upper floors were located one and two bedroom apartments. These would have been a nice city pad. Another view of the building Sources: Woollahra Heritage Inventory

The David Jones store at 65-77 Market Street in Sydney designed by Crawford Mackellar (in association with Bruce Partridge) and built by John Grant and Sons and opened in 1938. The building’s statement of significance describes it as “a fine interpretation of the functionalist design tradition, expressive of the department store use and well related to a strong townscape character at an important city corner." “Its materials, attractive proportions and subtlety of address to the corner site show an architectural style and sensitivity of a high order. The use of aluminium for window frames and street awning (both still extant) was innovative at the time.” The building is a good example of the Functionalist style. Castlereagh Street entrance In 1938, the opening of the David Jones store made a permanent change in the life of the city. But it did not emerge fully formed and it took over three decades for the store we see today to be completed. In particular, two storeys we

Charles Plaza at 58-68 King Street in the Sydney CBD is an outstanding example of Art Deco design. It stands as one of the earliest and most "pure" of Sydney's Art Deco skyscrapers. It is associated with a distinguished body of work by Hennessy, Hennessy & Co, who produced more office buildings in the 1930s than any other Sydney based company, particularly for the insurance industry (ACA, Colonial Mutual, Prudential). The 14 storey Inter-War Art Deco buidling was constructed in 1938 by Concrete Constructions Co for the Australasian Catholic Assurances Society Ltd. It was completed in 36 week! A central tower facing King street and stepped in upper floors impart a feeling of grandeur to the building. King Street entrance King Street foyer ceiling Interior Art Deco moulding Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

Construction of the Australian Provincial Asssurance Building (APA Building) at 53-63 Martin Place in the Sydney CBD began in early June 1936 by Kell and Rigby builders following the calling of tenders in February the same year. The imaginative use of granite and terracotta on its facade creates an impressive presence in Martin Place. The building was designed by the architect David W. King who occupied a suite in the building for over thirty years and was largely responsible for ongoing maintenance and alterations to the building during this time. From 2004 to October 2021, the building most notably housed a Lindt chocolate café on the eastern side of the ground floor. The (now-closed) café came to international attention during the 2014 Sydney hostage crisis, thus being commonly referred to as the Lindt café siege. Facade detail Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

This very handsome Art Deco bank building at 31 Hall Street in Bondi is, at the time of writing (2009) in the process of getting new tenants after the Commonwealth bank closed the branch. A comment from "bondi" says "The building is now (Aug 2012) a surf shop, SURFECTION. The facade has been changed somewhat, with the ground floor windows being widened to act as display windows. It's a relatively modest and sympathetic change, with the window frame divided where the building line used to be. The interior pays no heed to the original ceilings, but at least they remain intact. The job was supervised, I understand, by Sydney Heritage consultants Weir Philips." Main entrance View of the branch before it closed Sources: Commonwealth Bank Archives