Sydney Art Deco Heritage

Snow's building is located within the Pitt Street streetscape at 360 Pitt Street in Sydney and is unusual for its grey and red terracotta faience tiled facade. The facade is six stories high with a mezzanine above the awning. Snow's building was originally built for Peter Mathieson, a former tobacco merchant who had traded on the site since 1898. The building was destroyed by fire in 1916 and it wasn't until 1934 that Mathieson got a new design by the noted architectural partnership of Ross and Rowe. Building work did not commence until 1937 and the building was not completed until June 1938. In September 1938 Peter Mathieson leased 358-360 to Sydney Snow Ltd and in April 1954 his heirs sold the property to Snow Properties Ltd and it became known as Snow's building. In February 1966 the property was leased to G J Coles & Co Ltd and is now known as the Coles Fossey building. Facade detail Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

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

Located at 128-140 Broadway in the Sydney suburb of Chippendale Pioneer House is largely intact and is a good example of an Inter-war Art Deco commercial building designed by Wright and Apperly Architects circa 1939. It was constructed following resumptions and road widening in Broadway in the late 1930's as part of a group of buildings built at that time. It originally included a bank and six shops on the ground floor with warehouse space above. There was a caretakers flat on the top floor that would have had a nice outlook over Sydney for the lucky occupant! The building makes a strong contribution to the Broadway Streetscape. One of the nice aspects of Pioneer house is the brick detailing along the top of the front facade. The design is arranged symetrically about the axis of the prominant vertical triangular windows which combine to give a stately and monumental feel to the building without being garish. More classic Art Deco touches can be found at ground level along the

ACI House is located at 52-58 William Street in Woolloomooloo and is also known as Peejays House, Australian Consolidated Industries and Hoskins Block. Designed by the prominent archtectural practice of Stephenson and Turner with Arthur Baldwinson for the Head Office and showrooms for the glass manufacturers, Australian Consolidated Industries. It is a fine example of an Inter-war Fuctionalists style commercial building. The building is listed in the RAIA Registry of Significant 20th Century Buildings and was completed in 1941. Facade detail It has eight storeys clad in burgundy glass mosaic tiles with long horizontal glass block sections on each floor. The curved corner is also built from *insulux* glass blocks spanning up all six floors which serve to reduce acoustic input and retain solar heat. The building is crowned by a floating concrete cornice perforated by large circular cutouts. The use of glass in the construction is carried on into the foyer area as well. Here

The Dental Hospital at 2-28 Chalmers St, Surry Hills, is one of the best examples of the interwar Functionalist style in Sydney CBD with strip windows in surrounds and strong horizontal lines demonstrating key characteristics of the style. With an illuminated tower of glass and long bands of windows that emphasised its striking wedge shape, the Dental Hospital of Sydney drew international attention for its world-class design and oral hygiene services. The original Dental Hospital on this site was built in 1910. By the early 1930s the building could no longer cope with the demands of the public and the requirements of the advancing dental profession. The new building, completed in 1940, one of the first to be partially paid for by a grant from the State Lottery, secured Sydney's place as a world leader in dental hygiene services. The new Dental Hospital was designed by distinguished architecture firm Stephenson & Turner (formerly Stephenson & Meldrum) that served the du

The charming Challenger House is located in the New Zealand capital of Wellington at 136 The Terrace. Dwarfed by its neigbours, most at least thirty years younger, Edmund Ancombe's fine 1938 Art Deco apartment block has survived because of its quality. Originally and best known as Franconia, this building has had several names over the years including ‘Lintas House’, ‘Invincible House’ and ‘Challenger House’. It is six storeys high, the ground floor plinth surmounted by four principal floors and a top level, with the lift machine room projecting above the main roof. It is solidly constructed in reinforced concrete with a rendered finish and is trimmed out with steel windows and doors, balcony rails and the like. Although the interior has been progressively modified over the years, its outward appearance has changed little since its construction in 1938. Edmund Ancombe designed many Art Deco buildings in Wellington including the Post and Telegraph building in Herd Street. During