More Ephemera

The debris of everyday life is a fascinating insight into lives past lived, well I think it is.  When the old back came off the house last month, I was out there sifting through the sand and leaves and came across lots of bits of cardboard and paper; packaging and ephemera that has been preserved under our floorboards for decades.  The house was built in 1917 and there's stuff here from the thirties onwards. 

I've already done this with all the old china and glass, which I posted about here.  The flower concept, which I shamelessly copied from someone else turned out rather well, so thinking I was on to something, decided to do same with the bits of grubby paper.  I sat with a paintbrush carefully removing all the dust, trying not to rip the delicate fibres.  I felt like a archeologist and and loved every moment of it.  

It's not a perfect symmetrical flower cause I didn't have the same sized pieces, but hey, it's art, who cares.  The centre piece is, we reckon, an old car tail-light.

Sorry, I forgot to take photos before I put it in the frame, so there is some glass reflection here.

Fags, sweets, tea, shoe cleaner, lottery tickets, soap, starch, sewing thread, cigarette swap cards, cough syrup, stock cubes... to name a few.  These were the things of daily life.

I love looking at the old fonts and packaging design. 

I wonder what will be preserved from our lives today.  Will the fact that we have digital records of absolutely everything mean that nothing is forgotten, special or cherished and kept?

Understatement

I just love that understated architectural style that was mid century design in the sixties.  Detail and decoration were nestled in a distinct coma, in between curvy lines in the fifties, and seventies look-at-me chic.   Sixties buildings can look a bit nothing and shabby now, but when you see a good solid example you just know it needs to be appreciated.   This house is also good example.

I'm still trying to find out the date of this school sports pavilion, but I'm guessing it was mid sixties.  I just love its cool pale materials and elegant lines.    Hey, this is the second post I've written about sport-associated buildings.  That's weird.  But they are interesting, because they are often buildings that are not heavily invested in, so it is interesting to see how 'cheap' structures were designed in years gone by. 

On a sunny winter afternoon, even I could be convinced to sit here through a rugby game.

If this ever gets demolished god forbid, I'm first in line for the clock.

Perfectly positioned to face East away from the afternoon sun.

I'd say that sign is original, love that font.

Back int the days when your station meant something, a prime parking spot.  The old sign writing, I wonder why the newer plaques were removed?

There was a lot of this.

That bench sure ain't going anywhere.  

Verge Victory

There is surely no thrill so great as a top verge find.  A few times a year our local council collects virtually anything from outside houses, and some wonderful treasures can be found.  I'd just bought a new TV for our soon-to-be-completed studio, and was subconsciously thinking about having to get some sort of unit for it to sit upon.  Which are universally hideous pieces of furniture, I find.

Driving along yesterday I did the old drive-by double take at a pile of teak coloured furniture.  U-turn.  A few broken pieces, around this - what do you know - TV unit.   Lovely simple mid-century styling, and jackpot, it's a Parker.  A helpful jogger helped me heave it into the back the car.  What loot!  What booty!

What is funny is that when I googled 'Parker Furniture History' I found.... Kylie's blog post on the very same topic!  Parker produced iconic top-end furniture in the mid-century decades in Australia.  This dealer has some lovely pieces, price on application.  I'm loving the no price applied my piece.

Isn't she a cracker?!  Some backyard restoration is underway, one small split that needs gluing.   I'll give it a bit of a wax and polish but apart from that leave as is.   Some days life really is worth living.

Perry's Legacy

Perry Lakes was an athletics ground built in Floreat, Perth for the 1962 Commonwealth and  Empire Games (nope never heard of them either).   Some would have us believe it was a dog from day one, unfit for purpose etc.  But Perry Lakes Stadium, until it met the wrecker's ball last year, had a certain elegance and grandeur that bought a whiff of something sophisticated to mid-century Perth.   Generations of budding athletes, and anyone that made it into the inter-school aths team had the opportunity to feel like an olympian for a swift moment or 30.  Its modernist lines and counter-levered canopy just made you feel like you could run faster and be a champion for one day.

This blog Perth 6000 times has also turned an eye to PL's faded glory in this post, where you will find some interesting interior shots.  OK, so it doesn't look that great, but it was derelict by then.

Apparently it was full of asbestos (isn't everything in Australia from that time) and given its location in the heart of the fashionable Western suburbs, the ground and majestic grandstand was always destined to meet the dozers.

Landcorp have developed the site for executive housing which they have creatively called "Perry Lakes".  Marketers have squarely targeted the Boomers and Xgens who will reminisce with fondness their youth and better days, and dig deep for the $1m for 500 square metres of deemed heritage land.

So what has become of athletics in Perth?  Over the road from the old site, we now have the new State Athletics Stadium which is by all accounts a much better prospect for those serious about running fast and jumping high.   But utterly charmless.  Maybe it was built on a budget, but the grandstand does nowt for me.

I was there today.  Not doing anything energetic myself, I hasten to add.

But there is hope!  Back at the old Perry Lakes site the original scoreboard still stands, like a mini stadia in itself, echoing the materials and lines of the now ghost grandstand.  I'm optimistically thinking it might be turned in into a cafe or kiosk, as a nod (hate that expression) to the mid-century styling that dominated this pocket of Perth and the memories of so many, of decades gone.  Or maybe they've just not got round to bowling it yet.    

Humble

Without a doubt one of my favourite, no darn it, my absolute favourite activity to include in any weekend is a home open.  In particular I love going to look at mid century houses that have been in the same family since they were built and are completely untouched by renovators.   A 1950-70's house that has been lived in by one family since construction often has such a wonderful sense of comfort and unpretentious joy, confident in its original design to just stay the same, unlike so much more recent house design.

Today I had a whizz through this house built in 1975, on the market in one of Perth's most expensive suburbs in a blue chip location.  What I love about it is its utter ordinariness (is that a word?) which you would never find today in this hood.   In the mid seventies, at the other end of the design spectrum, with Iwanoff's Brutalist to your left, to your far right saw extremely simple, yet graceful houses built for those with less directional tastes.  This is one such house.

 Drinks on the terrace tonight darling?

Hang on, now that's a bit racy, some crazy paving under the clothes line, go on, cut sick!

Plain, yes, but still sort of lovely.  What happened to that style of tiling I wonder.

The estate agent appreciated my confession to viewing with an interest in mid century design (I've given up trying to come up with stories any more), and even humoured me with ideas of opening up the serving hatch from the kitchen to make the space flow, but who is he kidding.  This house will undoubtedly be met by a demolition team and something enormous with mega-swank built in its place. Sigh.