I wasn’t sure about what demolished/altered building to write about for a series of articles that focus on lost Tasmanian Modernism. In my recent blog post Documenting for Posterity - Today is Tomorrows History I discuss how much has changed since I’ve been documenting over the past decade or so - As I said in that post, change is constant, and it motivates me to carry on documenting our built environment.
Former Devonport Police Headquarters - a year prior to its demolition
This was the former Devonport Police Headquarters. Located in Oldaker Street, Devonport, the station was a wonderful example of Mid 20th Century design with the prominent feature being its glass curtain wall, a popular feature of architecture from the 1950s and 1960s. The facade had wonderful aluminium windows that created a pleasing pattern mixed with the light blue panelling. The main entry cantilever is typical of this period too, many Tasmanian designs have this feature in one form or another.
I remember driving to Devonport to capture it for posterity as I had read it was to be demolished. There is always a sense of urgency when I find out a building is to be demolished in order to capture it before its demolished. I made this image on a beautiful autumn day in 2012 and in 2013 the Devonport Police Station was demolished. A farmers market, Providore Place, was built on the site with the newly designed Police Station located in Wenvoe Steet.
As I continue to document and edit my archive photographs I will be adding them to the Tasmanian 20th Century Modernism website gallery for demolished and altered buildings - the gallery can be viewed here