Earlier this year we attended a book launch event in Edinburgh at the headquarters of Historic Environment Scotland.

The book in question was Art Deco in Scotland, Design and Architecture in the Jazz Age written by Bruce Peter.

Laid out in the building’s rooms were various illustrations of Art Deco designs, models, architectural plans and magazine illustrations as well as a screened photomontage of reminders of Scotland’s Art Deco past, some of which are now sadly gone.

On Saturday last I finally got round to buying a copy of the book. (Who could resist a cover featuring the Tower of Empire from the Empire Exhibition 1938?)

Among many sumptuous photographs of cinemas, public, commercial and industrial buildings and fabric designs the book has a chapter dedicated to the Empire Exhibition.

I have not yet read the text but look forward to it.

See previous posts of Moderne and Art Deco buildings in Arbroath.

Art Deco pillars at Victoria Park entrance :-

Sea and wall at Arbroath:-

Arbroath Harbour:-

Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, where the House for an Art Lover is situated, was the site of the Empire Exhibition 1938.

Towards the exit of the House a digital reconstruction of the Exhibition was on display. This one is from YouTube:-

There was also a small cabinet containing some memorabilia from the Exhibition:-

The memorabilia in the picture are: a toasting fork, a bronze model of the Tower of Empire (Tait’s Tower,) a metal badge in the shape of the Tower, the official Guide to the Exhibition, a glass dish on which there is a season ticket for the Exhibition, the book entitled The Empire Exhibition Fifty Years On and a Birrell’s chocolate box. Presumably the structural engineering company whose plaque is also present had a stand at the Exhibition.

Cleadon is a village in South Tyneside, just north of Whitburn where a friend of ours lives.

We had never actually stopped in Cleadon – apart from to buy petrol once – until Oct 2024.

While stopping to photograph Cleadon’s War Memorial I spotted this minor Art Deco building:-

Cleadon War Memorial is a stone pillar on a pedestal. Details of the memorial are on this website.

View from side:-

Names of Great War dead and those who served:-

Second World War names:-

Dedication:- In memory of those young men and women from Cleadon Cottage Homes who served
during the World Wars 1914-1919 1939-1945.
“They that put aside today
All the joys of their today
And with toil of their today
Bought for us tomorrow.” – Rudyard Kipling

I featured Hexham’s Art Deco cinema, The Forum, here.

When we visited the town again in Oct 2024 I spotted a couple more buildings with Art Deco styling.

The old bus station has an Art Deco pediment and lettering:-

The frontage has deco styling too:-

Then there was this shop with a slight Woolworth’s vibe but this may be later than deco:-

Our sojourn to Barrow (see earlier posts) was really to take a look at stuff in the Lake District, whose main town is Bowness-on-Windermere.

Among others of Bowness’s sights I found the Royalty Cinema, which has Art Deco touches in the white painting and horizontal bands but also feels a bit Edwardian. It was opened in 1927 and so is on the cusp.

The Roxy Cinema is fairly prominent as you pass through Ulverston to or from Barrow-in-Furness, standing as it does by the main A 590 road:-

Note rule of three, and banding, plus flagpole.

Entrance, also the entrance to the Laurel and Hardy Museum:-

From south, Art Deco lettering, banding on white background and rule of three in windows:-

View from north:-

Ulverston in Cumbria, is the nearest biggish town to Barrow-in-Furness, about ten and a half miles further north. It was the birthplace of Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy fame. There is a Laurel and Hardy museum in the town which we didn’t visit and a statue of the pair in the town centre.

The statue stood outside this fairly impressive building:-

Just across the road was this building:-

The Tesco’s in the town was in a minor Art Deco style. Its upper windows are completely ruined:-

Detail:-

Shop block:-

Doorway, pediment and fanlight:-

Lakeland House on Abbey Road. Stitch of two photos:-

Central tower. Strong verticals and horizontals, rule of three in windows, streamline detailing:-

John Whinnerah Institute, Abbey Road aspect:-

Stitch of frontage:-

Doorway:-

Hindpool Road aspect of John Whinnerah Institute:-

Triangular Window detail:-

Former Roxy Cinema, now an entertainment venue named Hollywood:-

Former Marks & Spencer only recently closed:-

Upper level of M&S (stitch of two photos):-

Dandy’s Fine Beds and Furniture:-

Roofline detail:-