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Art Deco Sydney CBD Beauty - City Mutual Life Assurance building

I was lucky enough to actually go into the board room of this Art Deco beauty one Open Sydney day a few years back. It still had its original art deco interior wood panelling and light fixtures which still looked good some seventy odd years after they were first put in. I am not sure if all that still exists, but as you can see, the exterior is still a very handsome example of high art deco. 

It is heritage listed, and has a sizeable wikipedia page dedicated to its history and architect which is well worth a read. As for me, I am enamoured by the concetina-ed windows, the choice of materials in sandstone and polished black granite, the bronze details, and the Raynor Hoff bronze relief over the entrance. Finished in 1936, the architect Emil Sodersten was praised for the contemporary (at the time) design of this stylish building which still looks as lovely as ever today.

All information courtesy of wikipedia.  

Out and about - March/ April photos

Here are a few photos I've taken on my travels recently:

1) The GPO clock 2) the stylish Art Deco entrance of the State Theatre 3) the decommissioned historic wooden escalator in Wynard train station now preserved and displayed as art: the "Interloop". 4) a handsome moth on the Great North Walk 5) a night jar in the Australian Museum 6) an example of a common mushroom sprouting up everywhere recently - this one from Garigal National Park 7) one of many sandstone faces that adorn the GPO (now Westin Hotel) 8) a rainy day reflection of the palm trees along College Street.  

Sydney Hospital, Macquarie Street

Australia's oldest hospital: Sydney Hospital in Macquarie Street. Most of the building is in the architectural style called 'Victorian free classical'. The charming late nineteenth century fountain, built in England as a memorial to thespian and theatre entrepreneur Robert Brough, features Australian Brolgas and black swans. It stands in front of the Gothic revival style Nightingale Wing of the hospital that houses a nursing museum and archives. (Information from The Dictionary of Sydney).

Freddy Spends the Day Inside

Freddy spends the day inside even though it's a lovely spring day outside.

Out and about early August

Fountain in Martin Place, parrots in The Australian Museum, native somethings in the wildflower gardens, Queen Victoria in Queen's Square Sydney city, ornamental purple and white cabbage - y things in Hyde Park.

Forgotten Songs, Angel Place, Sydney

Above is a photograph I took the other day of the installation/ artwork in Angel Place called Forgotten Songs. The Sydney City web page on the artwork says it is a visual and sonic piece as the calls of birds that used to inhabit the area can be heard as you wander beneath the bird cages. These songs also apparently change as the day progresses to reflect the daytime and nighttime activity of the birds that used to live in the Sydney city region. I think it's one of my favourite urban artworks.

Thought of the Day

A thought of the day courtesy of that great Victorian/ Edwardian French sculptor Auguste Rodin. Other great things Rodin said were:

"Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely"

"Sculpture is the art of the hole and the lump"

"I invent nothing, I rediscover"

"The work of art is already within the marble, I just chop off whatever isn't needed" 

"I am like a moon that shines on an immense, unknown sea where ships never pass"

Sandringham Memorial Garden and Fountain - Hyde Park, Sydney

I went for a quick one hour saunter to the city today to specifically take some photos of a very pretty corner of Hyde Park that I've always admired. It is the Sandringham Memorial Garden and Fountain which was completed and opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1954. It is a memorial to King George VI (her father) and King George V (you can see their initials and numbers on the two gates above). The City of Sydney has quite a good blurb about the memorial here. I've always enjoyed the jazzy orange mosaic of the fountain and the interesting design of the gates. Today was an especially good day to visit as the planting around the sunken fountain was very fetching!

Bondi Sandstone Pegasus: Art Deco Seat for the poet Henry Kendall

This attractive Art Deco seat (made from Bondi sandstone) was built in 1939 for the Australian poet Henry Kendall. It is in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia which I had a stroll through on the weekend. I had not heard of this poet, so I looked him up and here I present a the second stanza from his poem "Bellbirds":

 

The silver-voiced bell-birds, the darlings of day-time,
They sing in September their songs of the May-time.
When shadows wax strong and the thunder-bolts hurtle,
They hide with their fear in the leaves of the myrtle;
When rain and the sunbeams shine mingled together
They start up like fairies that follow fair weather,
And straightway the hues of their feathers unfolden
Are the green and the purple, the blue and the golden.

 

You can read more about Henry Kendall and his poems here.

Anne-Lise Koehler

These beautiful paper mâché birds were made by French artist/ sculptor Anne-Lise Koehler. She doesn't just do birds either, she makes all sorts of things ranging from pine martens to mushrooms to forest floor dioramas. You can see more of her work on her website.