September 2026
A nice bit of #ArtDecoMelbourne, normally hidden by damn trees – Patersons Furniture, Bourke Street, 1934, by #ArthurPurnell (as Purnell & Pearce).
Patersons started in Smith Street in the 1870s and by the 30s had three stores (pic 8 is 1911 Smith St). This one was a rebuild and extension, and the new facade features green glazed vertical ribs that pop past the roof, and an alcove up top – don’t know what it had originally but the neon sculpture that’s still there was, from memory flickering flames, back when it was the Virgin Megastore in …the 90s ?
Purnell had such a long and varied career, first 10 years in Canton (Guangdong), then in various partnerships back here after 1910, some great houses, some Chinesey looking things, offices, factories, clubs, and sporting grounds, dpind Edwardian then classical and Bungalow styles, then Art Deco, and did the Southern Stand at the MCG in the 30s and the Olympic Stand in the 50s, both now demolished. And my dad’s house in hawthorn in 1937.
