International – Page 6 – Global Art Deco

Victoria Mansions, Durban

A diverse yet harmonious collection of decorative elements.

We are pleased to have a second guest post for this blog from the Durban Art Deco Society. Durban is South Africa’s third largest city and has many Art Deco buildings.

Situated at 124 Margaret Mncadi Avenue, Durban’s 1933 Victoria Mansions were designed by E S Cornelius. Victoria Mansions is an apartment building facing the bay across the Victoria Embankment. It has vertical pilasters with fluting which rise through an arcuated first floor. The facade is richly decorated with geometric patterns and an array of fantastical animal figures. Apart from dolphins and winged lions, it also has a vulture feature on the side panel of the entrance. The glazed tile panel over the entrance is a nostalgic memento of the days of the great Union Castle mail ships that called at Durban for so many years.

Photos and text © Durban Art Deco Society

Clube Náutico Capibaribe, Recife

These distinctive, sweeping curves belong to Clube Náutico Capibaribe, a sports club located on the Avenida Conselheiro Rosa e Silva, in the Aflitos district of Recife, a seaside city in in the northeast of Brazil. Initially a rowing club, hence the name, it is best known for its football team, often abbreviated to Náutico, which plays in the national Série B league.

Clinica do Carmo, Loulé (demolished)

The southernmost region of Portugal is known as the Algarve, and this is where we find the city of Loulé. The Clinica Do Carmo was located at Avenida José da Costa Mealha 94 and had a variety of rectilinear decorative elements on its façade. Sadly, Global Art Deco has been informed that this building no longer exists. We will leave the photos for reference, particularly as it was an attractive example of Portuguese Art Deco.

Surrey Mansions, Durban

We are privileged to have a guest post for this blog from the Durban Art Deco Society. Durban is South Africa’s third largest city and has many Art Deco buildings.

The Surrey Mansions is one of the great Art Deco buildings of Durban. Located at 323 Currie Road, it was designed by W E Langton & W B Barboure, and completed in 1934. It is an eight-storey apartment building with detailing of imagination and sensitivity. Block like ground and first floors, rounded corners up to a squared off top floor and with fluted giant order pilasters rising up the entire height. Richly varied stucco reliefs with winged lions high up. Excellent resolution of geometry in the use of rectangular and curved forms.

Photos and text © Durban Art Deco Society

A Barraca, Santos, Lisbon

The Cinearte cinema, at 2 Largo de Santos, was constructed in 1938, and features some details which give it an industrial look. Designed by the architect Raul Rodrigues Lima, it ran as a cinema for over four decades, closing in 1981. It was reborn in 1990 as a theatre named ‘A Barraca’ or ‘The Shack’. ‘A Barraca’ has now been successfully bringing a new theatrical dimension to the Santos district for thirty years. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s Raul Rodrigues Lima designed a number of Portuguese cinemas, as well as courts and prisons.

Hotel Mondego, Coimbra

Note the period typeface used for the name.

Coimbra is Portugal’s university city, and is found a little north of the centre of the country. The Hotel Mondego is situated on the Largo das Ameias in central Coimbra. It has a set of neatly curving balconies and railings on its upper façade.

Igreja de Santa Terezinha, Rio de Janeiro

Known locally as the ‘Igreja de Santa Terezinha do menino Jesus’, or ‘Church of Saint Teresa of the boy Jesus’, this church was opened in 1935. It was designed by the architects Arquimedes Memória and Francisque Cuchet who blessed it with a stunning modern bell tower. The painter Carlos Oswaldo provided it with stained glassed windows and mosaiacs. It also has a dynamic location being next to a main road that leads from the edge of the Botafogo neighbourhood and into the tunnel to Copacabana. It became a listed heritage building in 1996.

Ave. Praia da Vitoria, Lisbon

On Lisbon’s Avenida Praia da Vitoria at numbers 17 and 19 we can find this pink apartment block. It has angular balconies, and stairwells that feature attractive bay windows. The photo below details the decorations on the wooden front doors.

This is a variation of the fountain motif.

Alvor, Portugal

The doors and windows look like replacements.

The picturesque seaside town of Alvor in southern Portugal has a number of Art Deco buildings. Though modest in scale they are often quite colourful such as this one with its mix of yellows and greens. The parapet’s green, pleated centre stands out.

Edificio Bororos, Sao Paulo

This is the Bororos Building, an Art Deco apartment block in the centre of the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Three storeys high it features a row of five horizontal bezels top centre, along with curving balconies with horozontal bar motifs. It was probably constructed in the 1930s.

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