Alkira House, Art Deco office building in Melbourne, Australia
Alkira House is a six-story reinforced concrete office building at 18 Queen Street featuring a distinctive facade of contrasting ceramic tiles in black, white, and earth tones with a central glass panel. The structure is topped by a signature waterfall tower that emphasizes the vertical lines running throughout the entire facade.
The building was designed in 1937 by architect James Wardrop and was the first in Australia to incorporate glass bricks as a structural and decorative material. This introduction of the European technique marked a turning point in how Australian buildings were designed and constructed.
The building embodies the Jazz Moderne style of the 1930s through its bold use of ceramic panels and glass elements on the facade. This architectural language conveyed modernity and progress to visitors and workers in Melbourne at that time.
The building sits on a busy street in central Melbourne and is easy to view and photograph from the sidewalk. The facade is best appreciated during daylight hours when natural light highlights the ceramic tiles and the central glass panel in striking detail.
The facade combines multiple shades of ceramic tiles in grey, green, and black in a continuous pattern that was unusual for buildings of that era. This color experimentation showed the architect's willingness to use modern materials in inventive ways.
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