Gallery
Surrey Mansions - Durban
Muslim Motif - Durban
Colonial Mutual - Durban
Memorial Tower - Durban
Durban, South Africa has a notable number of buildings built in the Art Deco style popularised in the US in the 1930s. [1] Durban-style Art Deco buildings share the characteristic bold colours, geometric shapes and glamorous ornamentals of the global style, while incorporating local narratives and motifs. [2]
The styling of Art Deco buildings in Durban reflects the different backgrounds of the city's population. [3] Some buildings, such as Quadrant House on the Victoria Embankment, emphasise the city's maritime background. Other buildings, such as Ebrahim Court and the Essop Moosa Building, are built in a style reflecting the interests of Durban's Muslim traders in the 1930s. [3] Some of the buildings pay allegiance to Durban's long association with the British Empire, such as Empire Court and Dominion Court.
Some notable examples of the Art Deco style in Durban: [3]
The cenotaph in the central square outside the City Hall is another striking Art Deco construction.
Due to a number of factors including inner city urban decay, a number of Art Deco style buildings are presently in a state of disrepair. [4]
The Durban Art Deco Society was founded in 2000 in order to raise awareness of the value of Art Deco buildings to the city's architectural heritage. [5]
Art Deco, short for the French Arts Décoratifs, and sometimes referred to simply as Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s, and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920s to early 1930s. Through styling and design of the exterior and interior of anything from large structures to small objects, including how people look, Art Deco has influenced bridges, buildings, ships, ocean liners, trains, cars, trucks, buses, furniture, and everyday objects like radios and vacuum cleaners.
Napier is a city on the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Hawke's Bay region. It is a beachside city with a seaport, known for its sunny climate, esplanade lined with Norfolk pines, and extensive Art Deco architecture. Napier is sometimes referred to as the "Nice of the Pacific", although that is largely outdated and a more common nickname is 'The Art Deco Capital of the world'.
South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a population of 25,028 at the 2021 census.
Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design, it was used in railroad locomotives, telephones, toasters, buses, appliances, and other devices to give the impression of sleekness and modernity.
Indo-Saracenic architecture was a revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and government buildings in the British Raj, and the palaces of rulers of the princely states. It drew stylistic and decorative elements from native Indo-Islamic architecture, especially Mughal architecture, which the British regarded as the classic Indian style, and, less often, from Hindu temple architecture. The basic layout and structure of the buildings tended to be close to that used in contemporary buildings in other revivalist styles, such as Gothic revival and Neo-Classical, with specific Indian features and decoration added.
Moroccan architecture reflects Morocco's diverse geography and long history, marked by successive waves of settlers through both migration and military conquest. This architectural heritage includes ancient Roman sites, historic Islamic architecture, local vernacular architecture, 20th-century French colonial architecture, and modern architecture.
Chennai architecture is a confluence of many architectural styles. From ancient Tamil temples built by the Pallavas, to the Indo-Saracenic style of the colonial era, to 20th-century steel and chrome of skyscrapers. Chennai has a colonial core in the port area, surrounded by progressively newer areas as one travels away from the port, punctuated with old temples, churches and mosques.
The Berea is a ridge above the city of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa on the northern side which overlooks the city centre and the Indian Ocean. Berea is also used as a collective designation for the suburbs in the area. It has been described as the area between the Howard College Campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and the Burman Bush Nature Reserve.
Mayan Revival is a modern architectural style popular in the Americas during the 1920s and 1930s that drew inspiration from the architecture and iconography of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures.
The Mutual Building, in Cape Town, South Africa, was built as the headquarters of the South African Mutual Life Assurance Society, now the "Old Mutual" insurance and financial services company. It was opened in 1940, but before the end of the 1950s—less than 20 years later—business operations were already moving to another new office at Mutual Park in Pinelands ; since then Old Mutual has become an international business and their present head office is in Johannesburg.
Astor Mansions is an Art Deco style building that was designed by architects Obel & Obel in 1931 and completed in 1932. The building was residential with street level retail and first floor professional office space. It was built to the maximum height of 140 feet permitted by the City Council. The building had a short lived stint as the tallest building in Johannesburg until the completion of the Ansteys Building in 1935.
The Beacon Royal, also known as the Beacon Court, is an Art Deco block of flats constructed in 1934. This was a time of enormous growth as South Africa and the rest of the world emerged from the Great Depression. All over Yeoville and Bellevue in the years 1933 – 1934, blocks of flats were going up. The Beacon Court is located on stand 1044 at 55 Grafton Road/Louis Botha Avenue in Yeoville, Johannesburg. It was designed for PP Weisholtz by the brothers Obel and Obel who were also responsible for Astor Mansions in Jeppe Street and the Circle Court in Willie Street which overlooked Clarendon Circle at the time.
Lauriston Court is a residential building in Houghton Estate, Johannesburg. The building was designed by the prominent architecture firm, Emley and Williamson and completed in 1936.
The Art Deco style, which originated in France just before World War I, had an important impact on architecture and design in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. The most famous examples are the skyscrapers of New York City including the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and Rockefeller Center. It combined modern aesthetics, fine craftsmanship and expensive materials, and became the symbol of luxury and modernity. While rarely used in residences, it was frequently used for office buildings, government buildings, train stations, movie theaters, diners and department stores. It also was frequently used in furniture, and in the design of automobiles, ocean liners, and everyday objects such as toasters and radio sets. In the late 1930s, during the Great Depression, it featured prominently in the architecture of the immense public works projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administration and the Public Works Administration, such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Hoover Dam. The style competed throughout the period with the modernist architecture, and came to an abrupt end in 1939 with the beginning of World War II. The style was rediscovered in the 1960s, and many of the original buildings have been restored and are now historical landmarks.
Kingsway Mansions is a three-story apartment block dating back from 1928 that has Cape Dutch and classical design elements in the decoration of the balconies and the gables along the main façade towards Kingsway Avenue. The building has 27 units with 21 of its apartments being 100 square metres and the remaining 6 ‘studios” 65 square metres each.
The Esplanade Mansions is a heritage building located in the Indian city of Kolkata, on the Esplanade Row and Marx Engels Beethi Road crossing, opposite to the Raj Bhavan. It was one of the buildings owned by Jewish businessman David Elias Ezra. The residential building was built in the Art Nouveau architecture style. Today it is owned by Life Insurance Corporation and houses commercial, railways and other government offices.
The Quadrant House is a Grade II listed building situated in Durban, South Africa.
The Art Deco in Kolkata, India is a prominent architectural style which can be found across the city, most notably in the southern parts of the metropolis. The style can be traced back to the 1930s "with the use of Portland cement and with geometrical articulation in plan and cosmetic decorative treatment including perforated concrete grill-work on a simple elevation (façade)." Although Kolkata is notable for its colonial-style and vernacular-style buildings, the emphasis on Art Deco buildings while discussing the architectural history of the city is often overlooked. This is in exception to the few prominent art deco buildings constructed during the colonial period in the first half of the twentieth century—about which enough has been written. Despite art deco being so prominent in the latter half of the twentieth century insofar as entire neighbourhoods—architecturally speaking—appeared to be adaptations of one style, it was not paid enough attention up until the twenty-first century when many such buildings started to be either severely neglected or demolished because of lack of architectural and historical awareness and preservation efforts.
