Monthly Archive for January, 2009

Little frog, originally uploaded by Powerhouse Museum.

This image of a design feature was taken at the exterior of the North Sydney pool complex designed by the architects Rudder and Grout. Jean-Francois went to the pool on a few occasions to capture many different aspects of the original features of this art-deco design and the activities of the day. These were included in the photographic immersive that he produced for the exhibition on modernism in Australia that is currently on in the Museum.

Whilst out shooting on location it can sometimes be the unintentional details that catch your eye like this little frog. If you are a regular to this pool have you noticed these details before?

File #00z29610

Photography by Jean-Francois Lanzarone
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Metro theatre, originally uploaded by Powerhouse Museum.

This image shows the Metro Theatre and Café located at 30 and 32 Orwell Street in Kings Cross. We photographed this art deco building for the Modern Times self-guided tour of Modern Sydney that you can download from our website. This theatre used to host vaudeville, movies, Sammy Lee’s Roosevelt Club and the 60s musical Hair. It is now he offices and studios of Kennedy Miller Productions.

This theatre, originally called the Minerva cinema, was built in 1937 and is a great example of art deco cinema design still remaining in Australia. Check this great image from the National Library of Australia’s collection taken by A.G Foster showing the theatre when it was called the Minerva and this one from the State Library of NSW’s Sam Hood collection.

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Photography by Sotha Bourn
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

Bare foot boy wearing a hat, seated on a log, originally uploaded by Powerhouse Museum Collection.

This gorgeous image showing a small child with a dog was uploaded to the Commons project yesterday. There is an interesting toy cat on the ground next to the boy with the words ‘tabby cat’ written on it. In this week’s batch there is also a portrait of a small girl holding, what appears to be a dog, titled ‘Portrait of young girl in white smock’.

This unusual collection was acquired by the Museum in the 1980s and appears to have been made by a Sydney based photographic studio from around 1890 through to 1920. It covers leisure scenes, performing arts through boxing and fencing scenes, sailing and portraits.

No known copyright restrictions

Trees at Shoal Bay, originally uploaded by Powerhouse Museum.

These trees were photographed at a bush track near Shoal Bay on the north east coast of NSW. They were photographed whilst we were traveling for the Indigenous women’s exhibition Yinalung yenu: women’s journey. A couple of us were fortunate to go to some regional areas of NSW to photograph and interview some amazing women who shared their stories with us and welcomed us into their homes.

The exhibition takes you into the world of Indigenous Australian women, focusing on the areas where women are more influential than men: creating and nurturing, teaching and community, family and health, lore and law, food gathering and preparation.

File #00z24412.

Photography by Paula Bray
License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0

This photograph, from our Tyrrell photographic collection, was taken some time after the completion of the new Scots Church and Presbyterian Assembly Halls building at 44 Margaret Street, Sydney, in 1930. The original Scots church was demolished to widen York Street and allow for tunnelling when work began on construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the 1920s.

In 1928, an architectural competition for the design of a new building was won by Mr Oscar Beattie of Mssrs. Rosenthal, Rutledge & Beattie, Architects. Work commenced in July the following year and the foundation stone was laid on November 30, 1929, coinciding with the stock market crash on Wall Street and the beginning of the Great Depression. As a consequence of the economic climate, the building was completed to only five levels instead extending upwards to the 150 foot height limit of the day as originally planned.

The architectural style is representative of the neo-Gothic style. Other examples include the Grace building in King and York streets, designed by Morrow & Gordon and built in 1930, and The GIO Building in Elizabeth Street, designed by J.A. Kethel and built in 1929.

Today the building carries an addition of contemporary apartments by architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer.

Unattributed studio, Sydney, Australia, c. 1930
No known copyright restrictions