Sydney Art Deco Heritage

Originally known as Freeman's Garage, Abrahams service station is a fine example of the interwar period Functionalist-Art Deco style of architecture located at 46-48 Parramatta Road, Summer Hill. Frank Freeman, a motor engineer, submitted a Building Application at the end of 1938 for the erection of a Garage and Flat with an estimated value of £3,000. The building was designed by Crick & Furse architects who were prominent Sydney architects who specialised in cinema design as well as industrial and domestic work. Facade detail "The building is set back from Parramatta Road behind a projecting awning, having a semicircular fascia and a pair of supporting stanchions. The concrete ground floor contains large workshop areas accessible from both Parramatta Road and Sloane Street, a sales room, an office and toilets. Steel framing supports the timber upper floor, which is an ample two-bedroom unit, originally accessed by stairs from Sloane Street. The characteristic ele...

The former Insurance House located at 263 George Street in the Sydney CBD is a four story building that was built in the 1900's and extensively refurbished in 1981. It was an old GIO insurance site and now offers boutique style accommodation and office space rental. It is currently the Facial Rejuvination Clinic. The building was put up for sale in 2022 with an expected price of over $50 million. It is one of the Sydney CBD’s last remaining underdeveloped boutique retail and commercial trophy assets, which could make way for a 17-level tower. The permissible development for the site is for a 17-level standalone retail and office building with 4,382 sqm of gross floor area. An artists impression of the permissbale development is shown in the photo. It appears this old buildings days are numbered. Sources: Sydney Council Database Australian Property Journal May 18, 2022

Railway House at 19-31 York Street in the Sydney CBD is now known as Transport House. The 12 storey building was completed in 1936 and was designed by H. E. Budden & Mackey in the interwar Art Deco style. The scale and architectural quality of the building is a reflection of the importance of the Railway system to Sydney and NSW at that time. It was considered one of the most modern buildings in the city with cutting edge design features including air conditioning and escalators down to Wynyard station. The building displays an extensive use of green glazed terracotta tiles to the facade. Facade detail Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

The nine storey building at 44 Bridge Street in the Sydney CBD is known as Booth House and was constructed in 1937-38. It is an intact example of the interwar Functionalist style office building designed by Brewster and Manderson. It is one of only a few such office buildings in Sydney's CBD. Named Booth House after the owners Frederick H. Booth & Sons, it housed several offices and wool brokers. The interior has been substantially altered largely due to the conversion of former office spaces. Restaurants were introduced to the basement and ground floor in 1975 and 1977. Facade detail The imaginative use of colour and materials on the facade are a stand out on the building. The use of sandstone, red granite, salmon coloured brickwork, green faced mullions and steel windows in browns and greens all combine to create an harmonius whole. View from Young Street The horizontal bands of windows around the building on each floor provide continuous natural light. S...

Kyle House is located at 27-31 Macquarie Place in the Sydney CBD. The McArthur Shipping and Agency Co Ltd commissioned the innovative young architect C. Bruce Dellit to design a new building for the site in 1931. The interwar style Art Deco Kyle House opened towards the end of 1931. The building was constructed by Stuart Bros. One of the prominant features of Dellit's design is the impressive granite entrance portal and stairways. The central clock between the the two stairways under the porch arch is also a novel feature. Main entrance Facade detail Top of the building Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

Located at 16-18 O'Connell Street in the Sydney CBD AFT House was previously known as Delfin House and the Bank of NSW House. The building was originally a banking chamber with offices above and it exemplifies the Art Deco style. Built in 1940 and designed by architect C Bruce Dellit it is one of Australia's finest examples of the Art Deco office building. The ceiling in the right hand side foyer contains Dellit's signature design element stepped pyramids. These features can also be seen in the chapel in Kinsella's funeral parlour at Taylor Square and also the ANZAC War memorial in Hyde Park. The imposing pink granite entrance archway Facade detail under archway Right hand entrance foyer ceiling light. Relief sculptures on doors Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

Also known as Swaab House and Manufacturer's House it is located at 12-14 O'Connell Street in the Sydney CBD. A nine storey building built for the NSW Chamber of Manufacturers in 1935 in a modest interwar Art Deco Style. The architect was S H Buchanan Cowper. Manufacturers Mutual Insurance was founded in May 1914 with its name as “The Manufacturers Mutual Accident Insurance Association limited”. At the time of its origin, it primarily concentrated on the workers compensation market. In 1920 the company was renamed as "Manufacturers Mutual Insurance limited" with the abbreviation as “MMI”. In July 2000 MMI changed its name to Allianz Australia. Entrance to Manufacturers Mutual Entrance to Manufacturers Mutual detail Being a very large red brick building the attractive Art Deco entrance portal uses pink granite to good effect. Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

Elizabeth House located at 230 Elizabeth Street in Surry Hills is currently a residential strata plan registered in 1998. Known as Elizabeth House it is listed in the RAIA register of 20th century buildings of significance. The building was designed by the prominent Australian architect Emil Sodersten it was built in 1939. Sydney Council records show that the owner was listed as City Mutual Life Assurance Society Ltd. They owned it until to at least 1975. Another view of the building To accommodate an uninterupted visual flow of each floor around the building the structural pillars were set back from the external wall alignment. The windows were supported by cantilevers from the support structure. Sources: Sydney Council Records

RM Williams House, located at 389 George Street in Sydney, was originally a three storey building built on a very narrow site in 1935. The brick building maked full use of the restrictions of the small corner site it occupied. At some time after 1953 it had a fourth storey sympathetically added to increase floorspace. There was a Penfolds wine restaurant there in the 1950s and the building is commonly known as RM Williams house. Detail of additional storey added in 1953. Sources: State Library Listings Sydney Council Heritage Database

Built in 1936, the City Mutual Life Assurance Building at 60-66 Hunter Street is one of the foremost examples of high quality and well-designed commercial Art Deco architecture in Sydney's CBD. It was the first private commercial building to be fully air-conditioned in Sydney. The serrated or zigzag window treatment to the street (also found on the Queensland Insurance Building in Pitt Street by Sodersten, 1940) allows much greater control of direct sunlight from one direction, while still allowing a view from the other. The impressive black marble entrance porch supports a base relief sculpture by Raynor Hoff called "The Flight from Vesuvius". Hoff had previously finished his tour-de-force at the ANZAC War Memorial in Hyde Park before this commission. The CML building represents the culmination of the work of one of Australia's foremost proponents of this style, Emil Sodersten. Main entrance porch "Flight from Vesuvius" detail Rokp...

Since 1911 the Commonwealth Bank Town Hall site at 546 George Street in Sydney was a retail outlet for furnishing retailer Morley Johnsons. An additional two floors were added to the building around 1938 and Art Deco syled fluting added to the facade. When Morley Johnsons closed their doors they sold the building to the Commonwealth Bank in 1964. The Commonwealth Bank has maintained a branch there ever since. Facade detail Before (circa 1930s) and after the remodelling of the facade (circa 1960s) Sources: Commonwealth Bank Archives

The QBE building at 80-82A Pitt Street in the Sydney CBD was previously known as Bryant House which was built for the City Mutual Life Assurance Association as an investment property. The building was designed by Emil Sodersten in association with T. W. Hodgson and Sons and was constructed by Hutcherson Bros in 1939. The building features an unusual serrated facade of textured face brick above a polished granite plinth with simple Art Deco mouldings. The original Art Deco detailing of the entry foyer and lift lobby remains intact. Facade detail Window detail The triangular windows with the inverted stepped pyramids is very similar to Pioneer House on Broadway. Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

Luna Park at 1 Olympic Drive in Milson's Point is one of Sydney Harbour's major landmarks and is a rare surviving example of an amusement park and fantasy architecture in the Art Deco idiom of the 1930s. The towers, more than any other feature of the park, epitomised the then fashionable Art Deco style of architecture, emphasised by the innovative and exciting lighting effects. The first entrance to Luna Park was constructed by Stuart Bros in 1935 to a design by Rupert Browne, based on his entrance to Melbourne's Luna Park at St Kilda. The original entrance and famous face were remodelled in 1939, 1947, 1953, 1960 and again in 1973. The twin towers have scalloped spires obviously influenced by the design of the Chrysler Building in New York, a masterpiece of Art Deco and the tallest building in the world when it was erected in 1930. Entrance tower detail Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

Asbestos House at 65-69 York Street in the Sydney CBD was designed by Robertson and Marks in association with John Reid and Sons in 1927. It was planned in two parts; the first was completed in 1928-29, and the second in 1934-35 to a design by the same architects. The building was praised for its delicate colouring (external terracotta) and its harmonious design. Also known as James Hardy House, the building is listed in the RAIA Registry of Significant 20th Century Buildings. York Street entrance Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

The ANZAC War Memorial in Sydney's Hyde Park South is aesthetically significant as the finest work of architect C. Bruce Dellit and is one of the finest examples of interwar Stripped Classical and Art Deco styles in Australia. It is also an examplar of the work of the most renowned Australian sculptor of the time, Rayner Hoff. It was built by Kell & Rigby builders in 1933-1934. The stepped ziggaurat design on the roof is a signature of Dellit's work. This design is reflected in the ceiling of the chapel in Kinselas Hotel just up the road on Taylor square. Facade detail Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

Listed in the RAIA Register of Significant 20th Century Buildings the Harbour Bridge at Milson's Point in Sydney was finished in 1932 and was designed by JJ Bradfield and Sir Ralph Freeman. The design of the impressive 89 metre high ziggaurat pylons, which are primarily decorative, was undertaken by the consulting architects, Sir John Burnet and Partners of London. Thomas Tait, the architect who carried out the work, produced a stripped classical treatment with strong Art Deco components. They are made of concrete, faced with granite, quarried near Moruya, where about 250 Australian, Scottish and Italian stonemasons and their families lived in a temporary settlement. Three ships were specifically built to carry the 18,000 cubic metres of cut, dressed and numbered granite blocks, 300km north to Sydney. Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

This building at 43-51 Brisbane Street, Surry Hills, was the former 20th Century Fox Film Corporation Building and reflected the growing importance of cinema for mass entertainment and information in the 1930s. It was designed in 1939 by T W Hodgson & Sons and was constructed by Robert Wall & Sons for the Fox Film Corporation. The choice of this site records the importance of this area of the city as an early focus for the film industry. It is representative of the functionalist tradition, stripped down to the essentials of form and materials, which emerged as a powerful influence in architectural practice in the 1930s. Interest is added by the Art Deco elaboration of the entry. It is significant as an example of the use of glazed terracotta tiles in low scale building. The significance of the building is enhanced by its proximity to other extant film industry related buildings such as the Paramount Studios building next door and the Hollywood Hotel. Detail at rear o...

The Sydney Water building at 339-341 Pitt Street in the Sydney CBD was built by Howie Moffat & Co to a design by Budden and Mackey in 1939. The building exhibits elaborate use of various coloured granite and marble finishes. Architectural terracotta tiles and bands of bronze and copper elements plus the associated bronze windows and curved fenestration to the corner make this building one of the most exquisite examples of the Art Deco style and detail in Sydney, if not Australia. Bas relief panels, sculpted by Stanley Hammond, are strategically placed above the entrance in Pitt Street which depict the water industry and its progression of technology. Detail of the facade Relief sculpture detail More facade detail Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

The Mutual Life & Citizens building located at 38-46 Martin Place in the Sydney CBD is now known as the Henry David York building. It was also known as the Minter Ellison building. The Mutual Life & Citizens building is aesthetically significant as one of the best Inter-War commercial office buildings in Sydney. It is also the best example in Australia of the exterior use of Egyptian-derived motifs in such buildings. The building was designed by Bates Smart & McCutcheon and built from 1936 - 1938. MLC tower detail THe tower has sculptures with ancient Egyptian motifs and influences and were designed by A & K Henderson. Main entrance The carved relief panel above the front entrance proclaims "UNION IS STRENGTH". A thought provoking image. Foyer area Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings