Sydney Art Deco Heritage

The site at 106 Oxford Street Paddington on the corner of Hopewell street has had a hotel known as the Unicorn Hotel since the first half of the 1880s. Before this it was occupied by premises known as Croft’s Family Hotel. The Unicorn Hotel was purchased by Tooth and company in February 1936. It was rebuilt by Joy and Pollit architects and completed in August 1941. The Unicorn Hotel was another iconic gay hotel on Oxford street. It had a superb Art Deco dining room with recessed lighting in the ceiling similar to the Albury hotel however it has been destroyed by the new owners. The architectual style was known as P & O Ship style because of the similaity to ocean liner forms. Its current incarnation as The Fringe Bar has an interior which is theatrical kitch with lots of red velvet drapes, mirrors and way too many crystal chandeliers over the bar. Unicorn facade detail Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

Built in 1939, the Light Brigade Hotel is an exceptional example of Inter War Functionalist style commercial architecture designed by Sidney Warden which dominates the intersection at Jersey Road and Oxford Street in Paddington. It is a prominent landmark in this part of the street. Sidney Warden designed numerous Art Deco hotels around Sydney. The Light Brigade is a hotel which has tried to maintain some of its Art Deco style when the owners renovated. The interior of the Light Brigade hotel is cosy with lots of period touches. There is a nice horse motif on the frosted glass door panels which has an interesting history outlined below. It is just one of the many fine details that are scattered around the hotel. If you are ever in Paddington on a weekend it is well worth dropping in for a refreshment to enjoy the ambience. View of the main bar Another view of the main bar Window motif - Cinq Cheveaux The horse motif on the door glass panel is a reproduction of a mo...

Located at 27-33 Oxford St, Paddington, The Rose, Shamrock & Thistle Hotel was built in 1939 and is an architecturally significant Inter War Functionalist style hotel designed by the prominent specialist firm of Provost and Ancher. It replaced an earlier hotel of the same name that was located nearby. A nice feature of this hotel are the curved windows on the first and second storey verandahs. They mirror the curve of the corner of the hotel and gives the verandahs a much more open feeling than if they were square to the facade. Sources: City of Sydney Heritage Listings

Situated on the corner of Moncur and Queen St in Woollahra, the Woollahra Hotel is a nice, balanced example of an Art Deco style hotel that has a good counter lunch. A particularly nice feature on the hotel facade is the use of different coloured bricks. The three horizontal lines of bricks behind the lettering of the hotel name are accentuated by the dark red brick set back from the paler coloured bricks. The upstairs verandah is still open on the Moncur Street side which gives an idea how the hotel originally looked. Imaginative brick laying is a hallmark of many of the Art Deco pubs around Sydney. The Pymble Hotel comes to mind with its brick sunburst. The hotel was designed by Cyril Christian Ruwald (1895-1959). Ruwald was one of several architects who designed hotels for Tooth & Co during the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Redfern, Sydney, Ruwald attended Sydney Technical College and was indentured to the architects Waterhouse and Lake. In 1917 Ruwald enlisted in the Field...

The Robin Hood Hotel at 203 Bronte Road in Waverley is an excellent example of a modern commercial building in an Ocean Liner/International style designed by Sidney Warden. Sidney Warden designed a vast number of Art Deco hotels and there are many excellent examples described in this blog. The hotel also features Art Deco motifs and detailing which are essentially intact and beautifully maintained. The Robin Hood hotel is one of three Art Deco hotels situated in the immediate vicinity. The Charing Cross hotel is directly across the road while the Tea Gardens hotel is a brisk ten minute walk towards Bondi Junction. View from Carrington Street Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

Located at 480 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills, the building is currently the headquarters of Opera Australia. The company recently had the building repainted which highlights the features of this excellent Art Deco building. Before Opera Australia purchased the building in the late 1980's it was a Hudson's Hardware store for many years. The building design has an horizontal emphasis which is accentuated by rounded corners which soften the vertical aspect of the walls. Cement rendered horizontal bands further emphasis the streamline effect. Above the main entrance is a classic Art Deco stepped parapet which adds an air of majesty to the building. The Opera Australia building extends back the full depth of the block to the next street. Due to the slope of the site the second storey at the front section of the building becomes the ground floor at the rear. The workshop area on the front ground floor has been heavily excavated towards the rear of the building due to the slope of th...