#art deco — Modernist Delights

Colin Campbell House & Habitat sign, Plymouth, 2025

A weathered, grey art deco building with teal vertical accents houses a City Furnishers Shop beneath a white awning. Some windows are broken or have bars, and a yellow To Let sign is visible. The sky above is cloudy and dark.

A concrete sign reading “habitat” is bent at a sharp angle on a city street. Two wooden bar stools sit in front of it. Behind, there are old grey buildings, a parked white car, and signs for a casino, all under a partly cloudy sky.

The building, which once housed a car showroom and later a Habitat store, a bookshop, and a furniture shop, failed to secure a heritage listing in 2016, but survived the threat of demolition. It remains one of the few examples of art deco architecture in Plymouth which survived the Blitz. The current tenants of the building have been told to vacate the premises just last week, with the building up for refurbishment into housing. Bring on the uPVC!

Hopefully the sign will be saved – for one, it would look great in my office.

Flying Angel House, Docklands, London, 2025

A tall red brick building with numerous grid-like windows, white trim, and two projecting white balconies. The sky above is cloudy, and a black railing and small green bushes are visible at ground level in front.

Opened in 1936 as The Missions to Seamen Institute, replacing an older Victorian building on East India Dock Road, as part of an Anglican organisation supporting seafarers. This hostel provided 150 bedrooms and related amenities, now in mixed commercial and residential use. The flying angel motif above the main entrance is of particular interest.

Embassy Court, Brighton, 2025

Front on shot of a 9-storey art deco building, painted white. Beside it on the left are smaller, older buildings, and to the right the windows of the building curve to the other side.

A corner-on shot of an art deco building with a square mass, painted white. It is surrounded by smaller, younger buildings. The main body of the building has 9 storeys, with the top 3 storeys receding back from the main body of the building. Each floor of the building features windows, with interspaced balconies.

Former Co-operative, Southport, 2025

A 4 storey department store building with some touches of art deco style. On the corner, there is a round window with a staircase visible.

Another art deco influenced, round window centrepiece in Southport.

Art deco flourish on a mixed use property, Southport, 2025

A semi-circular column of windows above a nondescript high street casino, rising to 3 storeys. The sides of the fairly narrow building, either side of the windows, are white, with art deco detailing.

Originally a men’s tailors, later a hairdresser’s salon and office spaces (credit Philip Mayer), now an unsympathetically-fronted high street casino with 6 one-bedroom flats added in 2019 (source).

Garrick Theatre, Southport, 2025

A large art deco building formed of two squareish shapes at the side with a lower main body in the middle. The building is in a bad state of repair, with hoarding and scaffolding around it.

Seaside moderne, the Northern way. Like many buildings of such nature, this had been a theatre, cinema, and a bingo hall, but is now in a sorry state. Now awaiting conversion to “residential, hotel, spa and retail units at ground floor, and the refurbishment of the existing auditorium as an event space”.

Sunwin House, Bradford, 2025

A large, semi-derelict art deco building made from brown brick. Featuring TJ Hughes branding, and all windows blacked out in navy.

Housing with touches of art deco in Sale, 2025

Squint and pretend you can’t see the uPVC!

A three-story brick apartment building with white accents and a central entrance. There are multiple windows on each floor, some with satellite dishes. A small front lawn, paved path, low brick wall, and a street sign are visible in the foreground under a clear sky.

Bristol & West House, Bournemouth, 2024

A curved corner brick building with many windows under a bright sun, casting shadows. Several cars are parked along the street, and a few people walk on the sidewalk, including a person pushing a stroller. The sky is mostly clear with a few clouds.

A four-story building features brown brick walls and large, rectangular windows with green vertical panels between some windows. A white awning extends above the entrance, labeled Bristol & West House, under a clear blue sky.

A tall, art deco building with Bristol & West House on the top, features curved brickwork, tall windows, and a Be At One cocktail bar on the ground floor. People walk nearby under a clear blue sky, with leafy trees framing the right side.

Walking away from the Bournemouth Echo building, we were distracted by Bristol & West House, a 1958 art deco building. Originally it must’ve been offices + retail, with the upper floors being converted to become the plainest apartments imaginable in 2015. Externally it’s a very fine building, however.