Deco in Bournemouth, April 2008
A short couple of walks around my home town over the last few days have demonstrated how much there is that I still don't know
about. I don't make great claims for these two buildings on Holdenhurst Road, one clearly a former cinema, but they're fun
nevertheless:
A short couple of walks around my home town over the last few days have demonstrated how much there is that I still don't know
about. I don't make great claims for these two buildings on Holdenhurst Road, one clearly a former cinema, but they're fun
nevertheless:
And in Braidley Road we
found this striking house.
It even has a gate with a
Deco sunburst:
found this striking house.
It even has a gate with a
Deco sunburst:
Two town centre businesses heavily market their Art Deco chic. The first is
The Print Room & Ink Bar, a bar and restaurant based in the former
Evening Echo newspaper offices on Richmond Hill.
The Print Room & Ink Bar, a bar and restaurant based in the former
Evening Echo newspaper offices on Richmond Hill.
| The building dates from 1934 and is one of the most startling and dramatic structures in the town centre. The Echo moved out in 1997 and the offices were unoccupied for ten years until their complete refurbishment last year by London-based architects David Archer. We like the way that they've retained not just the building, but the Echo signs and the clock jutting out over Richmond Hill. The Ink Bar occupies the old reception area, and the Print Room, well, the printing room. |
Just so you know that you've come in the right door.
It's a strange experience eating where the presses
would have wheeled and thumped, pounding out
Bournemouth's news day by day for sixty years.
The emptiness and space was a bit daunting at
first - it almost looked too beautiful to disturb -
but we swiftly conquered any lingering
reluctance! Service was good and the food
scrumptious, and we thoroughly enjoyed the
experience. Clearly there isn't a great deal original
in the restaurant, because there wasn't much to
start with - just the steel door and window frames
now picked out in black. The pink-red strip lights
defuse what could otherwise be an intimidatingly
chilly contrast of black and white.
would have wheeled and thumped, pounding out
Bournemouth's news day by day for sixty years.
The emptiness and space was a bit daunting at
first - it almost looked too beautiful to disturb -
but we swiftly conquered any lingering
reluctance! Service was good and the food
scrumptious, and we thoroughly enjoyed the
experience. Clearly there isn't a great deal original
in the restaurant, because there wasn't much to
start with - just the steel door and window frames
now picked out in black. The pink-red strip lights
defuse what could otherwise be an intimidatingly
chilly contrast of black and white.
| The other Deco-promoting business is the Cumberland Hotel on East Overcliff Drive. |
The dramatic entrance lobby with the CH cypher laid (very confidently) into the floor.
| Very appropriately Deco carpet, but we're not sure about some of the furniture. I can certainly imagine a '30s designer insisting on zebra for a chair, but not then sticking it on a faux-18th century frame! |
Now, both these buildings are enormous fun, and we enjoyed visiting them. It's wonderful that these two businesses have chosen to trade so
consciously on their Art Deco history and architecture. It's particularly interesting to see the way popular culture interprets Deco. It comes
to mean, in the early twenty-first century visual imagination, striking colour contrasts (especially of black and white, and occasionally red),
geometry, and, very prominently, mirrors. Virtually everything can be mirrored. Lifts are mirrored; picture frames are mirrored; even a dirty
great flat-screen TV can be mirrored. It's fine; but it's slightly limiting for a genre that was anything but limited. Nevertheless, both these
sites are a pleasant, bold change from the usual fare.
Find out more here: write-up of the Print Room
Print Room website
Cumberland Hotel website (actually this doesn't tell you a great deal
- and boasts some exceptionally objectionable intro musak)
consciously on their Art Deco history and architecture. It's particularly interesting to see the way popular culture interprets Deco. It comes
to mean, in the early twenty-first century visual imagination, striking colour contrasts (especially of black and white, and occasionally red),
geometry, and, very prominently, mirrors. Virtually everything can be mirrored. Lifts are mirrored; picture frames are mirrored; even a dirty
great flat-screen TV can be mirrored. It's fine; but it's slightly limiting for a genre that was anything but limited. Nevertheless, both these
sites are a pleasant, bold change from the usual fare.
Find out more here: write-up of the Print Room
Print Room website
Cumberland Hotel website (actually this doesn't tell you a great deal
- and boasts some exceptionally objectionable intro musak)
Further Along the Coast - the Riviera Hotel, Weymouth, January 2009
The Riviera dominates Bowleaze Cove to the east of the town, and south of Preston. It sits dramatically atop the cliff and you can't help thinking
that such a building wouldn't get anywhere near being built nowadays. No such worries in 1937. The structure looks a little weary close up, but
we understand is due to be refurbished thanks to the presence of the Olympics in Weymouth in 2012. Nothing very Deco seems to survive
inside, but the exterior is exciting enough. I can't discover who the architect was - Pevsner managed not to notice it!
that such a building wouldn't get anywhere near being built nowadays. No such worries in 1937. The structure looks a little weary close up, but
we understand is due to be refurbished thanks to the presence of the Olympics in Weymouth in 2012. Nothing very Deco seems to survive
inside, but the exterior is exciting enough. I can't discover who the architect was - Pevsner managed not to notice it!
