Transformation

1920. Holy crap I'm bored.

Brisbane began the interwar years as essentially Victorian.  The skyline was spiked by church spires and factory chimneys but few buildings were over 4 or 5 storeys.  Horses were still a very common sight in the city streets with only a few households owning automobiles.  Photographs show Brisbane women in the first years after WWI wearing soft, flowing dresses, wide-brimmed hats, softly tailored jackets and dresses covering almost every square inch of flesh as well as carrying the ubiquitous parasol.  Men wore  waistcoats, ties, hats.

1920

1920

1919

Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Building - 289 Queen Street, Brisbane

This is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful of the surviving interwar buildings in the city.  I say surviving because unfortunately I'm discovering that a large percentage of the buildings built in Brisbane during the 20s and 30s have been demolished.