October has been a weird month for me as I've had a proper exploring drought, only managing to get to a couple of local places at the beginning of the month and then this which I guess is fairly local to me.

This iconic Art Deco building was opened in 1933 as a purpose built leisure destination for motorists travelling to and from London. It was designed by cinema architect Eric Norman Bailey and he used similar styling techniques in the design of this building. It originally contained a sprung oak floored dancehall, a large swimming pool and various other leisure attractions however due to the restrictions of the building plot the outside activities were limited, but the inside attractions were more varied than most. It remained a locally famous club well known for it's cabaret performances for around a decade and was a popular haunt for US servicemen stationed in the area during the first part of World War II, however around 1942 it was converted into a factory building wings for Spitfire airplanes. After the war it remained in industrial use and spent it's last years under ownership of a wholesale supplier of craft products bought out by a larger company in 2015. The building was vacated in 2016 and it is now under threat of demolition.

The industrial extension built onto the front and side of the building was designed to not look too out of keeping with the original style of the building. If it was cleaned up I can just imagine how much it would gleam in the sunlight.

Turning up late morning we didn't really know what to expect as it's in a busy residential area but after a little poke around we worked it out and were in. There isn't much of anything left inside, in fact one of the best little features in here is a room in the basement covered in workers doodles from the 1970s through to the 1990s. Despite how bare it is inside I needed to see it as for one it's fairly local to me and two Art Deco is by far my favourite period of building design and architecture.

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Thanks for looking

That exterior shot is worth the trip right there!! What a absolutely gorgeous bit of art deco design.

Also, has Dale been to Buffalo?? It certainly looks like somewhere in the Buffalo/Erie area has been circled on that map....

Posted by TheSwanStation That exterior shot is worth the trip right there!! What a absolutely gorgeous bit of art deco design.

Agreed! Nice!

I absolutely love Art Deco industrial design. There's a beautiful abandoned Art Deco ice cream factory in my region that also has the lovely rounded corners that this place displays so well. I especially love the entryway in #9. These places always remind me of the art design of the ITV adaption of Agatha Christie's "Poirot" stories, which was cock-full of sets that look like this.