CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | Contact

The owners of a visually displeasing house in Betoota’s old Meatworkers district have been praised by local council for keeping the building just as ugly as it was when it was built in the 1940s.

Situated at number 3 Daroo street, the house has had only three owners since it first began violating the eyes of the locals, and has retained it’s same Californian-style sky-blue colour for the entire duration.

Despite even the owners themselves admitting that the architecture hasn’t aged well, they refuse to alter it in any way – at the advice of a few smug local art and design historians.

“Yeah” says the owner.

“It’s Art Deco”

Art Deco, sometimes referred to as Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. Art Deco influenced the design of buildings, furniture, jewellery, fashion, cars, movie theatres, trains, ocean liners, and everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners. It took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925.

It is this particular style that has millions of inner-suburban streets around Australia fall victim to the circular concrete facades and tall Baptist church-style windows made popular between the world wars.

It combined modernist styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, Art Deco represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress – nowadays the term is generally used to excuse ugly buildings that are being assessed for a heritage listing.

 

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