Brisbane Meteorological Office

Source: National Archives of Australia, Image Number: J2669:551

This is a lost gem. Completed in 1938, the Brisbane Meteorological Office was a handsome cement rendered building on the corner of Wickham Terrace and Upper Edward Street. It was designed by the Queensland Department of Public Works and carries their signature stripped classical rectitude. I haven't discovered when it was demolished but it was still there in 1974. The site is currently occupied by a huge horrendous residential tower 'Observatory Tower'.   

Story Bridge

 View of Brisbane towards Story Bridge from City Hall Clock Tower, 8 January 1954. Story Bridge looms over the city in the background. The rising brown steel skeleton is the MLC office tower under construction, heralding the coming of the skyscrapers, effectively ending the interwar form of the city. Many interwar buildings are visible here.

Source: BCC Library Image number: BCC-S35-9311022.

Style

Two women photographed standing on the steps of the Queen Street GPO during a World War I peace procession in 1919.  
Source: SLQ, JOL, image no. 121824.

Colleen and Goldie Gray, at the Ascot races on Saturday 5 August 1933.
Source: SLQ, JOL, image no.  102691.

Style tells us a lot. It is emotive so it talks about what people feel and what they want others to feel. Architectural style changes rapidly and is used to project an image. There have been periods when people want to be prospective and periods when people want to be retrospective. 

During the interwar years in Brisbane, no one style dominated. In fact, there was a style explosion. So much so, in 1959 it was described by one Brisbane architect as a "confused" period, architecturally. From the view point of the late 1950s when style was narrow, dominated by International and Mid Century Modern, the interwar period must have seemed haphazard. However, I think that interwar styles are quite understandable if you define them into two categories: the styles of 'romance' and the styles of 'optimism'. 

Hotel Daniell, corner Adelaide and George Streets, c1928. Elaborate 1880s Victorian style.
Source: SLQ, JOL, image no. 105071.

Hotel Daniell after modernisation. The façade was sheared of all the Victorian ornament, arch headed windows were squared off, the post-supported footpath awning was replaced with one that was top-hung, and large show windows were inserted along the street fronts. The result was a clean, simple box.
Source: SLQ, JOL, image no. 1878.

The Wintergarden Theatre

 Wintergarden Theatre usherettes, 1926. Foxy.

Moving Pictures came quickly to Brisbane after they were invented in 1895.  Australians made the first full-length feature film and the national film industry was big  - although Hollywood soon took over and dominated.  At first, moving pictures were shown in very makeshift locations (sheds, tents, etc.) but soon theatres were showing films on screens in place of live acts.  When it was seen that the moving picture fad was here to stay the first dedicated Picture Palace was built - The Wintergarden.

Opening 1 August, 1924 with Where the North Begins, it was a lavish new arrival heralded in the local paper for months beforehand.  Over 10,000 individual lights of changing colours hidden behind the intricate fretwork ceiling created a fantasy space.  A Wurlitzer organ, the largest in Brisbane (at the time) was installed to accompany films and represented an orchestra of 100. The theatre was naturally ventilated through ingenious techniques.

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.

Zeitgeist

Adjacent to the GPO, Queen Street decorated for Coronation of King George VI, May 1937.
Source: http://waywewere.couriermail.com.au/image-detail.php?search_field=&offset=2407&return=L3NlYXJjaC1yZXN1bHRzLnBocD9saW1pdHM9MjQwMCwxNSwzOTM5JnNlYXJjaF9maWVsZD0=

What was the spirit of 1920s and 1930s Brisbane? I get the feeling it was pretty fun. Admittedly I'm not sure just yet how 'fun' the aftermath of the 'war to end all wars' was. Or the Spanish flu epidemic, which killed approximately 3 per cent of the world before it disappeared in 1920. Or the Great Depression that hit Australia harder than most other countries, with recovery taking longer, too, and unemployment hitting 29 per cent in 1932. What else could happen in 20 years? Oh yeah, the threat of a bigger war for the last year or so.