Streamlined Moderne house in Hamilton NOW SOLD

The award-winning, 1939 'Hambly House' in Hamilton, designed by Edward Glass, has sold since it was put on the market in sometime in the spring of 2012. Click here to learn more about the house itself and its history.

Walking tour of Toronto's downtown Deco skyscrapers

Prudential House (55 York Street, 1929)

On Saturday June 16 at 10 am, award-winning author Tim Morawetz will be leading a Heritage Toronto walking tour entitled 'The Art Deco Towers of Bay Street.'

The free, 90-minute tour will walk past seven high-rise office towers, financial institutions and a department store.

The tour departs from Prudential House, 55 York St, just north of Front Street and the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, and wraps up at the corner of Bay and Richmond Streets.

The tour happens rain or shine, and wear comfortable shoes!

Art Deco architecture across Canada – sneak peak!

This Sunday afternoon (March 25), Tim Morawetz is delivering an illustrated lecture entitled 'Art Deco Architecture Across Canada' as part of the Roaring Twenties Lecture Series at the Bata Shoe Museum in downtown Toronto.

Ceiling of Marine Building lobby, Vancouver, 1929

During the talk, Tim will showcase several dozen Art Deco buildings from coast to coast, including:

Hambly House, Hamilton, 1939

* Halifax's Bank of Nova Scotia
* Montreal's best Deco Roman Catholic Cathedral
* Toronto's legendary Maple Leaf Gardens
* Hamilton's newly restored Hambly House
* Winnipeg's best Moderne high school
* Calgary's dismantled York Hotel
* Vancouver's spectacular Marine Building

This talk is a chance to preview some of the buildings that will be featured in Tim's upcoming book to be published later this year.

Lecture tickets are $16, which includes Museum admisison and a short tour of the Roaring Twenties exhibition following the lecture (free for Bata Shoe Museum members). Pre-registration is required; call 416-979-7799 x240 or email programs@batashoemuseum.ca.

Tragic loss of Moderne high school in British Columbia

The 1948 Streamlined Moderne style Southern Okanagan Secondary School, located in Oliver, B.C., was consumed by fire on Monday, Sept. 12. 

The school had been undergoing a $29-million renovation, and while the new gymnasium, science laboratory and cafeteria were saved, the south and east wings were destroyed, as was the cherished and historic auditorium.

Thanks to Robert Hill, author of the Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800–1950, for passing along that the school was designed by Theo Korner and Harry W.  Postle in 1945–46.

For news story links, visit The Globe and Mail, Wikipedia, or Google the school's name. 

Check out this dozen Toronto Deco photos!

A brief profile of the Art Deco Architecture in Toronto book has just been published in Canada's History magazine that features a dozen photos of Tim Morawetz's favourite Deco buildings in the city.

These are just some of the 70-odd buildings featured in the book.

Enjoy!

Art Deco shimmers in Battle of the Blades

Last year, the Battle of the Blades 'figure-skater / hockey-skater combo' TV show took place at Maple Leaf Gardens, the ultimate Art Deco ice palace (1931; Ross & Macdonald, with Jack Ryrie and Mackenzie Waters).

  Georges Laraque and Anabelle Langlois with classic lotus-leaf Art Deco decoration behind.

But this year, despite the fact the show now originates from a brand-new, custom-built set in a giant production studio, the show's designers have retained the Gardens decor. (Read more from National Post columnist Peter Kuitenbrouwer about the creation of the show's set in the Pinewood Studios Toronto.)

Stone 'balconies' accentual recessed vertical strip windows

For instance, the sides of the hall are adorned with crisply fluted vertical piers topped with the Gardens' signature zig-zag details.

More boldly,  there are decorative screens around the ice surface that feature  timeless Deco lotus leaves.

To me, the fact this shamelessly populist reality TV show is putting Art Deco front-and-centre is the best proof that this style truly resonates with the general public!

Notice the bold zig-zags and horizontal stone detailing on the Gardens' facade.

Help save streamlined Australian cinema!

Please help preserve the Glenelg Ozone Cinema in Glenelg South Australia by signing the online petition!

This cinema is an outstanding example of the Art Deco style and possibly the earliest remaining air-conditioned, fully Art Deco designed cinema in the region. Faced in Basket Range freestone, featuring horizontal fins and a prominent vertical signage element (both originally neon lit) it is the only Art Deco theatre in Australia constructed with a stone front. The building was designed in 1936 by F. Kenneth Milne, a prominent interwar architect, after visiting the United Kingdom in the early 1930s.