Relaxing at the park on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Retro Curves
As you walk around Hamilton you will see some of the Art Deco style buildings like this one.
Art Deco was a popular international design movement from 1925 until 1939, affecting the decorative arts such as architecture, interior design, and industrial design, as well as the visual arts such as fashion, painting, the graphic arts and film.
This movement was, in a sense, an amalgam of many different styles and movements of the early 20th century, including Neoclassical, Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism, Bauhaus, Art Nouveau, and Futurism.
Its popularity peaked in Europe during the Roaring Twenties and continued strongly in the United States through the 1930s.
Although many design movements have political or philosophical roots or intentions, Art Deco was purely decorative. At the time, this style was seen as elegant, functional, and modern.
source: Wikipedia
Garden Pergola
Here's a look from a slightly different angle at one of the pergola's at The Hamilton Gardens.
The Gardens
Hamilton Gardens are a great place for a bit of exercise. There is a walkway that takes you right into the City.
Masonic
The Masonic Hotel is in Cambridge which is about 23 Kms West of Hamilton.
The hotel was built originally of timber in 1866 for Archibald Clements; rebuilt and enlarged with shops and billiard saloon in 1877; then destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1912 in its present form - colonial but with a classical façade. It was built for £4,100 by Fred Potts and his subcontractors Messrs Speight, Curtain, McVeagh & Palmer. These were the days when the tariff was 8/- per day and 2/- bought a meal.
The Waikato Independent newspaper recorded – "The entrance hall is wide and roomy and there is a handsome staircase with stained glass windows overhead which affords effective diffused light. Upstairs has 24 bedrooms and a lounge which leads to the balcony.”
There is curved cast iron work on the verandah and it was one of only two buildings left in Cambridge with original iron verandah posts which had ornate Ionic capitals, until New Zealand Historic Places Trust advised that the owners could replace the ornate posts with the current ones. It is the only building in Cambridge with a balustrade.
Great place for a beer too! :)
source: Cambridge Museum
Chirp chirp!
Stopped for a bite and a coffee at Gordonton and this little chap landed on the fence hoping for a snack. After I got this shot I rewarded him with a few very large crumbs :)
Fairfield Jam
Sitting in the traffic waiting to get across the Fairfield Bridge ( I think Sakiwi over at the Hamilton Daily Photo has the same problem sometimes :)
Fairfield Bridge was named for the suburb to which it links to eastern Hamilton and is its most well known landmark.
The concrete bridge was constructed by a local company, Roose Shipping Co Ltd and the project overseen by Mr A.A. Woodward, the Waikato County Council engineer. Work commenced in August 1934 and soon after they began drilling they found an underground forest that no one had been aware of. Logs were so hard they had nearly turned to coal causing an unforeseen delay in completion of the bridge.
The structure which was 457 feet long consists of three bowstring trusses and two land spans all in reinforced concrete. The aggregates used throughout the job were crushed metal from Smeed's quarries at Tuakau.
The bridge was paid for by the Government, Waikato County Council, Hamilton Borough Council and the Waipa County Council. The bridge is in good condition apart from needing repairs in 1991 due to concrete cancer at a cost of $1.1 million.
source: Hamilton City LibrariesVulcan
Spotted this motorbike parked up at Frankton. I believe it's Kawasaki Vulcan V-Twin touring motorcycle - very cool, love the paint job :)
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