Herschel Court, Sea Point

At the moment I keep getting drawn back to the wonderful Art Deco apartment block in Sea Point, Cape Town.

This is Herschel Court (1938) showing the features you would expect of sun-drenched deco flats. Open balconies with concrete eyebrows providing shade and a white colour-scheme with aqua highlights and reddish window frames.

Herschel Court also features two of these wonderful entrances.

Reference:
Art Deco Architecture Cape Town Map, The Cape Art Deco Society, 2003

Cintra, Sea Point

Cintra (1943), Sea Point

Reference:
Art Deco Architecture Cape Town Map, The Cape Art Deco Society, 2003

Rose Court, Sea Point

I really enjoyed dipping into Sea Point yesterday so I decided to stay in Cape Town for today's building, in fact I stayed in Sea Point, ust a few doors up from Bordeaux Court.

This is Rose Court in Avenue St Denis. Again it has squared-off open balconies atthe corners of the building with deep concrete eyebrows to provide lots of shade.

The entrance is marked by two vertical fins. They rise above the name of the building spelt out in metal letters above the door either side of a series of small square windows providing light for the stairwell.

Bordeaux Court, Sea Point

I love the contrast between the dark of the trees and the light of the building lit by the South African sun in this photo of Bordeaux Court in Sea Point, Cape Town.

From memory (and the other photos I have), Bordeaux Court is symetrical with squared-off stepped back sections either side of this central cureved area. The balconies at the corner of the building are open with those on the top shaded by deep concrete eyebrows.

This view from the another angle shows the open balconies and the dramatic setting Bordeaux Court provides for its residents in the shadows of the hills around Cape Town overlooking the ocean.

Baredna, Cape Town

This is a very interesting block of flats in Cape Town and not only beacuse of the name, Baredna. Is it Bar-Edna, Ba-Red-na or even Bare-DNA? No doubt the architect, Alexander Stewart Cruickshank, could tell us what the name meant when the flats were built in 1939.

Now let's look at some of the features of the buildng. Firstly, they are asymetrical because of the corner site allowing Cruickshank to place the place the windows cutting through the near-corner of the building.

Then we can see that the curved balconies on either side of the central tower were once open but now only one on the upper two floors remains so.

The tower has two squared columns running up the section of glass bricks with three crossbands near the roofline.

Interestingly the name is not rendered on the central tower but on the right section of the building between the conventional residential windows.

Finally, a glimpse of some of the attention to detail with this little railing in the stairwell.

Reference:
Baredna Flat, Artefacts.com.za

Flats, Vredehoek

A piece of Cape Town eye candy. These flats are in Vredehoek with the magnificent Table Mountain in the background.

Bellair Mansions, Vredehoek

Bellair Mansions, Vredehoek

Adelphi Court, Vredehoek

Adelphi Court (1939), designed by architects J Talberg & J Rubenstein.

Reference: Art Deco Architecture, Cape Town Map produced by The Cape Art Deco Society

Dunrobin, Vredehoek

Colosseum Building, Cape Town

The Colosseum Building is a landmark Art Deco building in Cape Town.

It was constructed 1936-38 and designed by W H Grant. In recent years it has been converted into apartments.

Reference
Cape Town Art Deco Architecture Map, Cape Art Deco Society, 2003

Flats, Cape Town

Alas this is another of those Art Deco buildings snapped in a strange city and I know very little about it.

I know that the photo was taken on one of our bus tours during the 2003 World Congress on Art Deco in Cape Tour. From the sequence of photos I suspect it is in the 'lower foothills' of Vredehoek or at least on the way there.

Feel free to leave a comment if you know this building and can help identify its location.