Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Hobart Modernism - "The Sad Little Bookshop" Demolished


There was a little bookshop in Hobart, in fact it was named "the sad little bookshop". What I found interesting about this site was that it stood alone, with a car park around it. The angled glass facade was a fascinating feature, and was common practice in mid 20th Century design.

This photograph is a personal favourite of my 20th Century Architecture Tasmanian collection for several reasons. When I photograph buildings I attempt to convey a story and show buildings in a light that highlights their attributes.

The day I took this photograph all the elements came together - a brooding sky (I love brooding skies in my photos!), and a lone pedestrian walked into the frame, helping to depict the sense of the shop being in the middle of a big empty car park.

Sadly this shop has been demolished, and in it's place....well nothing - it now forms part of the car park! These buildings may not have striking attributes of their bigger Modernist cousins, but they have their place in telling a story of our past. \

History repeats with Modernist buildings such as "the sad little book shop" being demolished and lost forever. It's times like these that I am happy to have documented buildings such as this one, because whilst a photograph cannot bring back a building, what such photographs do is provide a record of our built environment.

4 comments:

  1. oh Thomas, you had me at the title. Glad you got a photo.

    ReplyDelete
  2. a sad little reminder of how how things pass just to make room for another 3-4 cars - and probably the whole car park will go one day to make way for a another shopping centre

    ReplyDelete
  3. oh and i forgot to say, i agree with Kylie - glad you got the photo because for people with not so good memmories it brings it all back vividly. And no it's not the same as haing it there but at least its presence can still be felt through your images.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Along with the last facility you mentioned (Columba Falls 1950s Toilet Block), it seems as if the people responsible for the shop let it run to ruin on purpose. That way both the shop and the toilet block could be pulled down without a second thought.

    ReplyDelete

About the project

Join me (Thomas Ryan Photography) on a photographic project documenting Tasmanian 20th Century Modernism from the 1930's to the 1980's. The entire project gallery of 1000+ images and counting can be viewed on my website www.tryanphotos.com under art projects. I have been undertaking this project for over a decade.

My portfolio of commercial and art projects can be seen on my website www.tryanphotos.com and I can be contacted here as well. All photographs are copyright of Thomas Ryan Photography. Unauthorised use is prohibited. Contact me for all enquires

Total Pageviews