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.