Repost 2018:
A good shot ? Yes I think so (straightened but otherwise #unedited). #CenturyBuilding, #MarcusBarlow, 1939, a #Moderne companion to his #ManchesterUnity 7 years earlier other end of the block ! Barlow was the chosen architect for the #HoweyEstate which owned the entire 1/4 of a city block since, well, the beginning, in 1837. He did three more in the block, one demolished. Lovely timber veneered corridors intact too.
Found an old shot – exactly the same angle !
Sometimes #ArtDeco was a bit …out there ! A couple of leaping nude spirits was a feature of the very swirly decor of the #newsreeltheatre in the basement of the 1940 #CenturyBuilding. The theatre design is credited to both #MarcusBarlow and cinema specialists #TaylorAndSoilleux (who also did the Rivoli). Looks like only something of the ceiling survives in the current nightclub down there. It sat 500, the largest newsreel cinema in the CBD, of which there were 4 or 5 in 1940, and stayed a cinema till 1985. The photos are from a FB group #melbournetheatres, but they often don’t say where from- presumably a theatre magazine. I’ve seen a vague sketch of the interior, excited to see what it was really like. Obviously inspired by the #OdeonLeicesterSquare, completed 1937 – last 2 images.
Current nightclub interior 
Storey of Melbourne 