Mensland

The Mensland building is one of my favourite examples of Art Deco on Giblett St, with one of the more complex parapets on show. It is quite similar to the 1938 building, with a slightly different badge. It has the same recessed horizontal banding and rounded corners.

I've been trying to date this building, but it's proved difficult as the few historic photos I have of this section of the street don't show the whole picture.

Going by this picture from 1950 (not sure where that date came from, but it's all I have tied to this picture) I think it's visible in the distance. The foreground building is now Serendipity, Gommes Shoes, James the Jewellers, then the gap for what will be Commonwealth Bank. Following that should be Steve's Menswear, two more buildings, Palassis Bro's building then Mensland. So, it's possible Mensland is the one before that double story building, but the more I look at it I think it should be located where the double story building is or even further back. Hmmm.

This photo from around the 1970s doesn't really paint a clearer picture.

Our facebook sleuths date this photo from 1974, and finally, some answers! Mensland was next to the two story tea house all along! So, looking back.... still no answers really. Was it there in the first photo from 1950?

It's clearly seen in this photo of the parade in Giblett St, but sadly I don't have a date.

Anyway, enough history.

The Mensland building proved tricky, as the Mensland brand dictates corporate colours so I had to create a design that was in line with their branding. We decided on a neutral gray with accents of white and their trademark orange.

Here's my photoshopped visualisation...

And here's the final painted version. We ended up going with a lighter gray that contained less brown, I don't think it's as punchy as the visualisation, but it aligned better to their corporate colours.