Melbourne’s Art Deco gems
This winter Melbourne has been seized by Art Deco fever, with the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) reporting almost 63,000 visitors to the international blockbuster Art Deco 1910-1939 exhibition during its first 25 days.
Tourists and locals alike can also arm themselves with a copy of the Art Deco Society’s Melbourne City Deco guidebook and take a self-guided walking tour of the CBD’s landmark buildings.
Melbourne is acclaimed as having one of the world’s largest and finest collections of Art Deco architecture and lovers of this romantic design style will find the CBD fascinating.
Some of the city’s Art Deco treasures that are featured in the Melbourne City Deco guidebook include:
Manchester Unity building, 220-226 Collins Street – on its completion in 1932, the building was the tallest structure in the city, featuring a facade of narrow columns and shafts and a decadent ground floor arcade with marble walls, copper panelling and a decorative ceiling.
David Jones (formerly Buckley & Nunn Men’s Store) and Myer Emporium, Bourke Street mall - the eye-catching Buckley & Nunn store’s decorative façade featuring black terracotta and glazing was awarded in 1934 for its modern styling by the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects. Shortly after, Myer’s façade remodelled with a bright white façade made of a new material called ‘snow-crete’.
Newspaper House, 247-249 Collins Street – admire the colourful mosaic murals on the building’s exterior by artist Napier Waller (whose works also appear in the Myer Mural Hall on the sixth floor of the Bourke Street department store).
Copies of Melbourne City Deco – as well as guidebooks to specific suburbs, such as South Melbourne, South Yarra, St Kilda and Elwood - can be ordered via the Art Deco Society’s website (www.artdeco.org.au) for $11 (including GST and postage within Australia).
More information: www.artdeco.org.au
Media contact: Robin Grow, Art Deco Society, on (03) 9813 4365 or email robingrow@ozemail.com.au