Tapestries, French Embassy, Ottawa

Once you have hung up your coat or planted your umbrella in the cloaking area just inside the main door of the French Embassy in Ottawa you are ushered into what the embassy website modestly describes as 'The Entrance Hall'. 'The Entrance Hall' easily accommodated the 80 or so guests in our party.

One of the features of this room are the large tapestries by Marcel Gromaire. The tapestries present the seasons.

Winter in Canada

Spring in Paris

Summer in St Malo

A fourth tapestry, Autumn in Quebec hangs in the Ambassador’s private quarters and, although he was very generous with his time and the access he gave to the rest of the embassy, we didn't get to see his private quarters.

This last photo shows the detail of a fox from the Winter in Canada tapestry with Gromaire's name and the year 1940 in the bottom right corner.

York Theatre Murals, Montreal

The York Theatre in Montreal was built in 1938 to designs by architect Perry, Luke and Little. The interior decoration was planned by Emmanuel Briffa who commissioned Kenneth Hensley Holmden to paint eight Art Deco style murals for the theatre.

I don't have any pictures of the theatre because having been badly damaged by fire in 1989 it was subequently purchased by Concordia University and demolished to make way for a new university building on the corner of Guy St and Rue Ste-Catherine.

Thanks to MaZe Canada and colros you can see what it looked like via their flickr sites.

Of the eight murals, three were salvaged by the University who have restored them and placed them in their building that replaced the old York Theatre.

Times Square Building, Rochester

I'd seen many pictures of the Times Square Building in Rochester but when I finally saw it in person I was even more impressed than by the photos.

Originally the Genesee Valley Trust Company Building it was designed by architects Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker. It holds the distinction of having its cornerstone laid on 29 October, 1929, the day the stock market crashed marking the beginning of the Great Depression.

The stand-out feature of the building are the 4 wings on the roof. Their size and simplicity are what I like about them. They are almost out of proportion with the rest of the building.

At ground level the building offers plenty of decoration. There are panels above the windows along the side of the building and two stone reliefs above the windows either side of the main entrance.

The main doorway and foyer are beautifully decorated especially the ceiling just inside the entrance.

The Times Square Building is included on a self-guided walk of downtown Rochester by the Landmark Society of Western New York.

Mulqueen Family Function Centre, Bendigo

This may have been a pub in an earlier life, it certainly looks like it. It is currently the Function Centre for the Mulqueen Family Funeral Directors.
These funeral directors have been in business since 1853 and took on the name Mulqueen & Sons in 1934 so they may have built this great looking Art Deco building for their own use but it really does look like a pub to me.

Some of the windows and the side doors bear a wonderful geometric frosted glass design.

A Building in Nairobi

This snap from the back of a cab in Kenya's capital Nairobi shows a tantalising glimpse of an Art Deco building. By the looks of it, a small scale skyscraper, maybe 10 storeys tall. I wish I knew more. I wish I had got the chance to go back and explore it some more.

National Breweries, Montreal

The Art Deco Montreal website has a comprehensive list of Art Deco buildings in chronological order. This building, National Breweries by architect Harold Lea Fetherstonhaugh is listed for the year 1931.

Unicorn Hotel, Paddington

The Unicorn Hotel in Oxford St, Paddington is another typical Sydney streamline brick pub.

I especially like the unicorn and the rule of three supports at the base of the flagpole.

Folk Dancing @ Gare Centrale, Montreal

I am really enjoying looking at the various details in the Art Deco friezes by Charles Comfort at Montreal's Gare Central.

The other day I posted some of the sports that are represented among the scenes of Canadian life.

Today I have zoomed in on some folk dancers and the accompanying fiddler. The way the woman's hair has been stylised into a horizontal wave is a common deco technique but it one of which I never tire. I love the severe straight line Confort has used for the top of her hair.

This portion of the frieze also shows some of the other symbols and motifs that are included in the overall confusion of the scenes.

Above the dancers there is a dove carrying a branch which could symbolise peace or Noah's deliverance from the flood or both.

There is also a shamrock above the fiddler and a fleur de lis between the dancers. These and other symbols elsewhere in the friezes represent the peoples who have emigrated to Canada.

Below this panel some of the words of the Canadian National Anthem can be seen. In this case they are in French. At the other end of the ticketing hall the National Anthem is in English.

I like these scenes so much, I've isolated the detail and created some designs on Zazzle. I think they look great.