Skip to main content

Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney
Subjects
Built Environment
Architecture
Architectural styles
Inter-War architecture

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Inter-War architecture

Subject

AWA Tower

Annie Wyatt House

Bondi Pavilion

Manly courthouse

Transport House building

Trocadero

APA Building

AWA Building and Tower

Allawah Hotel

Annie Wyatt House

Audley

Beneficial House

Bondi Pavilion

Commonwealth Bank of Australia building

First Church of Christ Scientist Liverpool Street

Gowings Building

Manly Town Hall

Roxy Theatre Parramatta

Sun Building

The Astor

The Metro Kings Cross

Transport House building Macquarie Street

Transport House building Wynyard

Trocadero

Westpac Bank Building

14 Ginahgulla Road, Bellevue Hill 1936

A new Grace Bros regional store at Parramatta October 1939

Bronte Court apartment building c1920-1945

Building plans for School of Arts and Working Men's Institute, Bridge Rd Glebe 1923

Commonwealth Bank, Martin Place, c1930s

Commonwealth Bank, Sydney c1920s

Construction of Empire Theatre, Quay Street 1927

Cottage, Cook Avenue, Daceyville 1918

Crowd outside the Radio and Electrical Industries Hall during the Royal Easter Show 1957

David Jones, Market Street, Sydney 1938

House, Avalon 1930

Metro, Kings Cross

Miles of carpet for the Trocadero... 1936

Opening of the Show Pavilion at Hordern's sports ground, Wardell Road, Dulwich Hill c1921

Prince Consort's statue & Astor House, Macquarie St 1925

Railway Building, Wynyard Square c1940

Railway House interior c1945

Roxy Cinema Parramatta

Roxy Theatre facade, Parramatta c1970

Roxy Theatre, Parramatta c1930

Show Pavilion at Hordern's sports ground, Wardell Road, Dulwich Hill c1921

South end of Manly Beach, showing the shark tower, Manly Surf Pavilion and block of flats c1939

Street of Californian Bungalows c1925-1950

The Crystal Palace Theatre, next door to AA Mackins Millinery Arcade, 586 George Street Sydney c1920

The Metro, Kings Cross

Theatre interior remodelled at Enmore, NSW 1937

WWI Memorial School of Arts, Liverpool c1940

Search

Browse

Browse
- Artefacts
- Buildings
- Events
- Natural Features
- Organisations
- People
- Places
- Structures
- Entries
- Multimedia
- Subjects
- Roles
- Contributors

Connections

Broader Subjects

Architectural styles

Footer

Home
About
Copyright
Blog
Facebook
Twitter

Inter-War architecture

AWA Tower

Topping the Art Deco AWA building, the tower was modelled on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and once dominated Sydney's skyline.

Annie Wyatt House

Annie Wyatt, a founder of the National Trust (NSW), lived here from 1926, and the unofficial first meeting of the trust was held in the house in 1945.

Bondi Pavilion

Designed to hold 12,000 visitors, the Bondi Pavilion was part of an ambitious improvement scheme for Bondi Beach during the 1920s. Hugely popular and well used during the 1930s, the pavilion fell into decline by the 1960s and was only saved in the 1970s by the conversion of the ballroom into a theatre. Since then, the pavilion has found new functions and users.

Manly courthouse

Opened in 1925, one of the few courthouses built between the wars in Sydney, Manly's courthouse has been a prominent landmark ever since.

Transport House building

Transport House won the Sulman Award for its architects Henry E Budden and Mackey in 1936, incorporating art deco interiors with the latest technology, such as air conditioning and escalators. Green tiles exactly the same colour as Sydney's railway carriages at the time marked the building as the headquarters of New South Wales State Railways.

Trocadero

Once the most glamorous dance hall in Sydney, the Trocadero hosted Queens, Dukes, and international stars, as well as Sydneysiders out for a good time.

APA Building

Office block built in the new extension to Martin Place in 1936-7, in the Art Deco or Jazz Modern style.

full record »

AWA Building and Tower

full record »

Communications tower that was Sydney's tallest building from the time it was built in 1939 until the 1960s. AWA (Amalgamated Wireless Australasia) was a household name from the 1930s to the 1950s as both a broadcaster and a manufacturer of radios, record players and other electrical equipment. The tower was modelled on Berlin's Funkturm Tower, built a few years earlier, and both took inspiration from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The building is decorated with appropriate symbols of communication, including a winged Pegasus, and the light fittings in the entrance in the shape of radio valves.

Allawah Hotel

Allawah pub that is a notable example of interwar architecture.

full record »

Annie Wyatt House

Georgian Revival cottage in Gordon, built in 1926.

full record »

Audley

Home built in Bangalla Street Warrawee in a mix of Georgian Revival and Mediterranean styles which was popular before World War II, as home for Preston L. Gowing of Gowings department stores.

full record »

Beneficial House

Brick Georgian revival building at 285-287 George Street North near Wynyard that was originally designed and built as a department store for the menswear retailer Peapes in 1922. In the 1970s it was converted into an office building.

full record »

Bondi Pavilion

full record »

Surf pavilion at Bondi Beach, built in the 1920s when surf bathing had become a mass leisure pursuit.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia building

Bank building at 42 Martin Place which is a rare example of Inter-War Beaux-Arts style. The Banking Chamber, Grand Hall and Safe Deposit area form a sequence of grand interiors with imported marble and a plaster and pressed metal ceiling.

full record »

First Church of Christ Scientist Liverpool Street

Designed by S George Thorp and built in 1926-27 in the Inter-War Beaux-Arts style. Largely unchanged and in continual use since that time.

full record »

Gowings Building

Built as a department store in Commercial Palazzo style used for inter-war commercial buildings, it has always been associated with Gowings retail business since the first store on the site in 1868. The building now houses retail, restaurant and hotel premises.

full record »

Manly Town Hall

Interwar brick civic offices which replaced the first chambers at the repurposed Ivanhoe Park Hotel.

full record »

Roxy Theatre Parramatta

Spanish-mission style cinema that opened in 1930. It was placed on the New South Wales Heritage Register in 1999.

full record »

Sun Building

Office block built for the Sun newspaper, its spectacular Skyscraper Gothic style confidently portraying the commercial power of the media. It was the last of the great newspaper buildings to be built in the city.

full record »

The Astor

full record »

Prestigious thirteen storey reinforced concrete residential apartment building in the Interwar Free Classical Style at 123-125 Macquarie Street.

The Metro Kings Cross

full record »

Luxurious Art Deco style theatre and offices originally built in 1939 as a live entertainment complex called the Minerva. It was bought in 1948 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and converted into a cinema, renaming it the Metro Kings Cross in 1952. After MGM was bought out by Greater Union Organisation in 1969, Harry M Miller staged the musical Hair at the theatre and it returned to live theatre use until 1976. It was converted to a short-lived shopping centre in 1981 before shopping market before being acquired in 1982 for use as a film studio by Kennedy Miller Mitchell.

Transport House building Macquarie Street

Building at 99-113 Macquarie Street designed by HE Budden & Mackey in 1938 to house the Department of Road Transport and Tramways.

full record »

Transport House building Wynyard

full record »

Award-winning Art Deco building at 19-31 York Street designed by HE Budden & Mackey for New South Wales State Railways.

Trocadero

full record »

George Street's most opulent dance hall.

Westpac Bank Building

Bank building at 341 George Street, built in the Inter-War Commercial Palazzo style which reflected the commercial optimism of the pre-Depression years. Part of the site was originally used by the first military barracks and parade ground before being subdivided in 1850. The first Bank of New South Wales occupied the site from 1853. The bank acquired additional land as the business expanded.

full record »

14 Ginahgulla Road, Bellevue Hill 1936

full record »

By

Harold Cazneaux

By kind permission of the

Cazneaux family

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-vn3667314]

A new Grace Bros regional store at Parramatta October 1939

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[hood_09953 / Home and Away 9953]

(Mitchell Library)

Bronte Court apartment building c1920-1945

full record »

By

Arthur Ernest Foster

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-vn3112302]

Building plans for School of Arts and Working Men's Institute, Bridge Rd Glebe 1923

full record »

By

Contributed By

City of Sydney Archives

Commonwealth Bank, Martin Place, c1930s

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[Home and Away - 35245]

(Mitchell Library)

Commonwealth Bank, Sydney c1920s

full record »

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

(Mitchell Library)

Construction of Empire Theatre, Quay Street 1927

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[hall_35094 / Home and Away 35094]

(Mitchell Library)

Cottage, Cook Avenue, Daceyville 1918

full record »

Contributed By

State Archives & Records New South Wales

[5225_a018_a018000072]

Crowd outside the Radio and Electrical Industries Hall during the Royal Easter Show 1957

full record »

By

Contributed By

National Museum of Australia

[Slide 168, via NMA's Flickr set]

(Raymond Morris Collection, courtesy of the photographer)

David Jones, Market Street, Sydney 1938

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

House, Avalon 1930

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-an24768378]

Metro, Kings Cross

full record »

By

Contributed By

Miles of carpet for the Trocadero... 1936

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[Decoration and Glass 1 May 1936 p43 via Trove]

Opening of the Show Pavilion at Hordern's sports ground, Wardell Road, Dulwich Hill c1921

full record »

By

Arthur Ernest Foster

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a6552051 / ON 30/Box 12, 105]

(Mitchell Library)

Prince Consort's statue & Astor House, Macquarie St 1925

full record »

By

W.D. & H.O. Wills

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

Railway Building, Wynyard Square c1940

full record »

By

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-an23381795]

Railway House interior c1945

full record »

By

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-an23503969]

Roxy Cinema Parramatta

full record »

Contributed By

National Archives of Australia

[A6180, 30/11/76/8]

Roxy Theatre facade, Parramatta c1970

full record »

By

John Aloysius Mulligan

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-vn3082736]

Roxy Theatre, Parramatta c1930

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a301119 / PXE 789 (v.56), 156]

(Mitchell Library)

Show Pavilion at Hordern's sports ground, Wardell Road, Dulwich Hill c1921

full record »

By

Arthur Ernest Foster

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a6552052 / ON 30/Box 12, 106]

(Mitchell Library)

South end of Manly Beach, showing the shark tower, Manly Surf Pavilion and block of flats c1939

full record »

By

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[nla.pic-an23478422]

Street of Californian Bungalows c1925-1950

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a173020 / PXE 789 (v.10), 20]

The Crystal Palace Theatre, next door to AA Mackins Millinery Arcade, 586 George Street Sydney c1920

full record »

By

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[hall_35078 / Home and Away 35078]

The Metro, Kings Cross

full record »

By

Contributed By

Theatre interior remodelled at Enmore, NSW 1937

full record »

Contributed By

National Library of Australia

[Decoration and Glass 1 July 1937 p32-33, via Trove]

WWI Memorial School of Arts, Liverpool c1940

full record »

Contributed By

Australian War Memorial

Architectural styles