Designed by S.W. Hall in 1938, Del Marie is an archetypal example of the global Art Deco style – severe, streamlined and simple.

The curved steel windows that wrap around the building and the flat roof were common Art Deco features. The rendered curved corner and projecting balcony are reminiscent of an ocean liner.

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Further Information

Audio Transcript for Stop 12

This vicarage in St Leonard’s Place was built prior to 1855, making it one of the earliest buildings on our walk. However it’s not the vicarage we’re here to talk about, but rather “Del Marie” the wonderful block of flats at number 4, in front of you. This is stop number 12 on our tour.

Designed by S.W. Hall in 1938, Del Marie is an archetypal example of the global Art Deco style – severe, streamlined and simple.

The curved steel windows that wrap around the building and the flat roof were common Art Deco features. The rendered curved corner and projecting balcony are reminiscent of an ocean liner.

Robin Grow is the President of the Art Deco and Modernism Society of Australia:

ROBIN GROW: The “nautical moderne” was almost a sub-genre of the style. This was an era where shipboard travel was very attractive, and a lot of this came from the Hollywood films. We have a lot of buildings in Melbourne that were designed to look like ships, and Del Marie is a good example. We’ve got streamlined markings stretching back and we’ve got the ship’s railings at the top of the building there.

The palm tree extends the ocean metaphor as does the name. Del mare is Spanish for ‘of the sea’. It seems like her owners were not only aware of her ship like nature, but possibly one of them was called Marie.

ROBIN GROW: They gave the flats exotic names or named them after exotic places. This increased their “rentability” and was a part of giving them the latest style. This is a block that would have appealed to someone with a strong sense of difference, compared say to the Cal Bung next door to it.

And certain features of Del Marie’s design reflect the social mores of the time:

ROBIN GROW: There was a lot of reaction to living in flats, and a lot of people criticised flat dwellers. And so what was important to a lot of people in flats was having your own entrance, so you had the illusion of living in a separate house, and also not having to listen to other people’s noise. And so the walls and flors were quite thick, generally concrete and so you could have a lot less noise that what you might get in apartments built today.

That’s Robin Grow, President of the Art Deco and Modernism Society of Australia.

Our next stop is right next door at number 2 St Leonards Avenue, a very different style from Del Marie.