MUTUAL BUILDING, 14 DARLING STREET, CAPE TOWN - PHOTOGRAPHS

There is more to ART DECO than ugly buildings

It was January 2011 when my husband to be and I first moved to Observatory, Cape Town. It felt a little like moving into the bundus. We both used public transport to commute to work and back in town. We would occasionally share the bus trip, which meant we could cuddle and talk a little longer. Through the window, Marshall would point out the art deco buildings along the way and I would sigh, glance, and remark how ugly they were. They were all so ugly, worsened by the various states of disrepair. So dreary, I could not even pretend to share his enthusiasm about ART DECO. Sometimes I would ask what the appeal was, but do not remember ever waiting to hear the reply.

This pattern continued on and off over the years as we moved deeper and deeper into the Southern Suburbs. Then earlier this year we moved to our current home in Claremont, which is slightly off the beaten track, suburban one could say. It was while out on my daily walks during the autumn and winter months that I began to notice the art deco structures around me. Marshall was away at sea at the time, and I missed him so much. One morning while walking and talking to Jenny about the various trees, shrubs, flowers and anything else around us, I told her of Marshall’s love of art deco architecture and pointed out some of the buildings to show her what I meant. Not too much later, we discussed possibly photographing them as a record as I wasn't sure I would be able to find them again and thought Marshall may enjoy the photographs when he returned in a few months’ time. I was vaguely aware that Jenny had been an amateur photographer for years and was itching for a reason to get back into her photography again.  

Suddenly our walks had more purpose as we carefully planned our routes.  We snapped away regardless of whether we were certain if we the building qualified as art deco or not. Soon thereafter, the idea of contributing to an art deco blog on the Cape Town buildings piqued my interest. Within days, I realized that a vague enthusiasm for the era was developing into a full-blown passion. I kept re-assuring Jenny as well as myself that it would soon pass.

Over the almost year of searching and researching and digging around, I gathered immense  amounts of data which now needed to sorted into some sort of order. It appears that there isn't any written comprehensive recording of our wonderful art deco architecture in Cape Town. We need to protect our heritage and do so with sensitivity. This got me thinking about whether a book would be me appropriate, and it seems to be heading that way, but for now, I am happy to have started a blog as well as a Facebook page, which will certainly help to gauge public interest.  

Who would have guessed?