Harry Albert Norris was born in Hawthorn, Victoria,[1] on 12 June 1888.[2] His childhood home was in Carlisle Street, Preston, and he lived in Preston for much of his life.[1]
Career
Norris was one of the first architects to introduce the Art Deco style to major commercial projects, and was possibly the first architect to introduce elements of Streamline Moderne into mainstream design.[3]
His designs were informed by his regular overseas trips, especially to the United States, which he visited regularly every 18 months to two years from perhaps the late 1920s.[4][3] In 1931, upon return from one of these trips, he said: "It is our duty not merely to copy the American architects, but to do better by taking advantage of the lesson from their mistakes".[3]
Norris also had a long relationship with George Coles, designing branches of their eponymous Coles Stores from the late 1920s, numerous matching Art Deco branches in the 1930s, and some of their earliest supermarkets in the 1950s, as well as a country house for E. B. Coles in 1938.[citation needed]
The Melford Motors Showroom also had many Streamline Moderne elements.[3]
He refused membership of the RVIA for many years until finally joining on the 21 February 1946.[2]
Later life and death
Norris retired on his 78th birthday in June 1966 and died six months later, on 15 December 1966.[2]
Date of construction: 1925–26, 1939–40 (extension)
The Nicholas Building is one of the most distinctive interwar office blocks in Melbourne. The facade is an essay in the Commercial Palazzo or Stripped Classical on a grand scale, with classical elements such as tall ionic pilasters and Doric columns and a wide cornice, all executed in architectural terra cotta, known in Australia as faience. The Cathedral Arcade is located on the ground floor and its glazed leadlightbarrel vaulted ceiling is a main feature of the building. Norris had his architecture practice here from 1926 until moving to 136 Jolimont Road, East Melbourne in the 1950s. The Nicholas Building was originally used as offices and retail, and as of the 2010s is known for specialist retail and creative industries.
G.J. Coles Building
David Jones Store(Former G. J. Coles Store), Melbourne
The building is noted for its use of colorful Jazz Moderne detailing, the unusual mauve colour of the faience facade and an overall verticality created by the use of prominent vertical piers, a form known locally as "Commercial Gothic". It was one of the first large scale examples of Art Deco design in Melbourne both inside and out, opening in March 1930 to expectant crowds.[5]
Block Court was a remodelling project, introducing a shopping arcade to the ground floor of an older building (the 1890 Athenaeum Club, connecting Collins Street with the Block Arcade. Block Court is noted for its extensive use of Art Deco detailing, such as the zigzag decoration to the copper shop window frames, patterned stained glass highlight windows, patterned multi-colour terrazzo flooring and elaborate ceiling decoration with stepped geometric shapes and floral motifs. Opening in October 1930, it was one of the earliest notable examples of Art Deco design in Melbourne (preceded by Norris's Coles Store), and remains the most ornate Art Deco interior in the city.[6]
A large country house built for Alfred Nicholas, it is the most outstanding mansion in the Art Deco style Victoria. Built over three levels, set in extensive landscaped grounds, it included numerous bedrooms, living spaces, sunrooms and a rooftop deck, with large windows overlooking the hillside. The expression is in a white horizontal Streamlined Moderne mode, with decorative Jazz Moderne detailing including motifs of koalas and possums in moulded relief panels.
Mitchell House is located at the corner of Elizabeth Street and Lonsdale Street. The building is a fine example of Streamline Moderne, featuring horizontal bands of windows wrapping around the curved corner, broken by a contrasting vertical element topped by the gold lettering of the building's name.
