Seventies retro goodness in Garden Place

Who remembers the DIC department store in Garden Place? I don't, it's before my time. This is what it looked like in 1975. Big glass windows to let in the light, and an orange and white colour scheme.

DIC Department Store - Garden Place, Hamilton - 1975

In 1993, the building was converted to house Hamilton's public library, and now looks like this. Exactly why the council insists on painting our libraries that abhorid shade of blue, I'm not sure, but the building was brought up to nineties standards pretty well. They've even put a bit of that old orange into the colour scheme!

Hamilton Library - Garden Place, Hamilton - 2010

Edit:

As Robyn mentioned, the ground floor of the DIC building used to host a pizzeria belonging to one Joe Di Maio. A few more photos:

Hamilton Pizzeria, Garden Place, Hamilton

Hamilton Pizzeria, Garden Place, Hamilton

Joe Di Maio - Hamilton Pizzeria

For more on Joe Di Maio, see this article.

Some things don't change much...

So I found an old picture of the National Insurance building (now Caro House) on the corner of the Caro Street and Alexandra Street here in Hamilton. This one is a building that has stood the test of time. Between the 1956 pic, and mine from just the other day, the only differences are the ground floor shops, the added awnings, and the extended window sills (for reasons I don't know)...

It's good to see some things do remain as originally intended. Even the current paint scheme is sympathetic to the design.



National Insurance Building (Caro House) 1956



National Insurance Building (Caro House) 2011

Missing Hamilton Architecture: The State Theatre

There are many buildings in Hamilton that have disappeared completely, and some that are still standing. The State Theatre is truely neither. When built on the corner of London Street and Victoria Street in 1932 the theatre appeared similar to the below photo (taken in 1939).

State Theatre Hamilton 1939

The theatre operated until 1964, at which time it was reopened as the Carlton and continued to trade until the opening of Village cinemas in Centreplace, which ultimately spelled doom for the State Theatre, as well as other theatres like the Embassy and the Regent.

The building would be tennanted by the Fountain City Church, until it was purchased in 2001 by Bayleys Real Estate, who, initially where going to demolish they building. Truth be told, they may as well have, there is not a lot left of it. The building was kept as it turned out to be one of the regions first reinforced concrete buildings, but for the most part, was gutted and stripped of it's architectural features, as my following photos show.

Ex State Theatre Hamilton 2011 - Bayleys Building

The original concrete panels are visible on the London Street facade

Only minor details of the State Theatre survive

The only significant detail of the orginal facade of the State Theatre.

State Theatre, next to it's modern counterpart, the Victoria Cinema

It's really sad that the State Theatre did not survive the last decade, while an independent cinema, the Victoria Cinema has started in a much less appropriate building next door.