Saturday, March 31, 2012

Black, White, Black

Ericsson telephone model DBH 1001, 1932
This bakelite telephone was designed by Jean Heiberg between 1930 and 1932 for Ericsson in Sweden. It was redesigned later to smoother lines, as can be seen below.

Ericsson telephone model DBH15, 1947
Designed in Sweden in 1947, attributed to Gerard Kiljan. These specimens were made in Brazil in the 1960s. The cream one is made of Plaskon (Urea Formaldehyde) and the black is Bakelite (Phenol Formaldehyde), two of the noblest plastics.

Photos by by galessa's plastics @ Flickr

Friday, March 30, 2012

Visit the Dockyards

A poster for the Southern Railway by Leslie Carr, ca. 1936

Leslie Carr was a well-known railway poster artist and this bold poster is to publicise the many Royal Navy dockyards open days that were held in the 1930s. These were at Chatham, Portsmouth & Devonport. The poster uses the 'Southern sunshine' style of lettering for the company name.

Via mikeyashworth @ Flickr

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Admiral Riverboat

Modern riverboat, St. Louis, Missouri. May 1940
Photographer: John Vachon (1914-1975)

Library of Congress (LC-USF33- 001879-M1) via kocojim @ Flickr

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Radio, Sweet Radio

This streamline/deco radio set was manufactured by Telefunken Radiotécnica Ibérica, Spain, since 1954. Its name was Cariño U1465. In Spanish, cariño means "sweety".

Specs @ Radiomuseum

Photo by GonchoA @ Flickr

Monday, March 26, 2012

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Düsseldorf Planetarium / Tonhalle

Designed by Wilhelm Kreis, the building was a part of 1926 GeSoLei (Düsseldorf Exhibition for Healthcare, Social Welfare and Exercise). We can see it in a photograph preserved in city archive:
In 1978, the Planetarium, famous not only for its impressive appearance but also for excellent acoustics, was converted into a concert hall and received a new name: the Tonhalle.
Photo by hgviola ♪ @ Flickr

Friday, March 23, 2012

Ceiling Detail: The Daily Express Building

The Daily Express Building was designed by Sir Owen Williams and was completed in 1932, it's grade II* listed.The foyer was designed by Robert Atkinson who took his inspiration from art deco American cinemas and New York skyscraper lobbies.
Atkinson provided the Express with a Hollywood-style reception space complete with a starburst ceiling in gold and silver, travertine walls, rosewood dado, deep black marble plinth, bright metal fittings and a wave pattern floor of blue and black rubber outlined by narrow green strips. After years of neglect and loss, Plowden Smith, the specialist restorers, have recreated this dazzling interior to superb effect. The ceiling is newly covered in silver leaf, while the silver serpent handrails complete with darting cobra tongues, stolen 10 years ago, have been lovingly recast using old photographs. In the same way, the wave effect floor has been recreated in large tiles each almost a yard long, and everywhere hidden uplighting once again bathes the ceiling in a soft glow, picking out the silver and gilt relief panels to either side with their suitably jingoistic Beaverbrook messages.

Photo by curry15 @ Flickr

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Red Airship

"Soviet airships must fly and will fly over the Soviet country!
Let us create a powerful airship-building industry".


Artist: Nikolai Dolgorukov
1932

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Long Range Floatplane

Fiat (CMASA) RS.14
On receiving a joint requirement from the air force and the navy, CMASA, a FIAT subsidiary, developed the RS.14, a floatplane for maritime reconnaissance. 186 examples were produced (including 2 prototypes), and were used with great success. The aircraft could also be converted for attack missions by fitting a canoe-shaped belly pod able to carry to 400 kg of bombs. Maximum range was 2500 km, top speed - 390 km/h. (Source: Virtual Aircraft Museum)
Color photo: Aerei della Regia Aeronautica website

Saturday, March 17, 2012

RMS Mauretania II

Far less famous than her glorious namesake, the Mauretania was launched on July 28, 1938 in Liverpool.
She made her first Atlantic crossing in June 1939, showing a moderate average speed - 20.60 knots westbound, 22 knots eastbound.
During WWII, the Mauretania was converted into a troop transport.
The ship was released from her war duties on September 2, 1946 after arriving back from Halifax, N.S. She is seen here berthed on Princes Landing Stage disembarking the last of her wartime passengers.

Read the Mauretania II story @ Liverpool Ships

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Monday, March 12, 2012

Life in 3D

Lumière Sterelux I (France, 1931)
One shot = a pair of 60 x 63 mm frames on 116 film (70 mm wide)
You can enjoy your 3D photographs viewing them through a stereoscope.

Source: stereofotos.de

Friday, March 9, 2012

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Grand Central Station, Chicago

The station opened December 8, 1890, closed on November 8, 1969, and torn down in 1971.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Italian Line

Giuseppe Patrone, 1932

Italia Flotte Riuniti was formed in 1932 as an "elite force", using the best ships of the Genoa-based Navigazione Generale Italiana (NGI), the Turin-based Lloyd Sabaudo, and the Trieste-based Cosulich STN lines. Indeed, the companies finally merged into Italia di Navigazione S.p.A in 1937.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Thursday, March 1, 2012

One-off Streamliner

1937 Opel Super 6 Stromlinienwagen by Dörr & Schreck

The car was apparently the work of designer Reinhard von Koenig-Fachsenfeld and had been ordered by Georg von Opel of the Opel car manufacturing family.

© Time Inc.