Pane 5 of the glass window from the former Orient Line Building
Maker
Lynton Lamb
(1907 - 1977)
Date1930s
Object number00005702
NameMural
MediumSand blasted glass, zinc, lead
DimensionsOverall: 745 x 1517 mm, 26.45 kg
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Peddle Thorp and Walker
DescriptionThe Orient Line Building in Spring Street, Sydney was completed in early 1940. The large window at one end consisted of 20 sand blasted glass panels with stylistic depictions of the Orient Line shipping operations. It was designed by Lynton Lamb of London for the Booking Office area and was made by the London Sandblast Company. The motifs depict maritime themes representing the globe moving through space, together with symbols of wind and weather and instruments of navigation.
HistoryThe Orient Line Building in Spring Street, Sydney, was completed in early 1940. From its outset it impressed the critics being described as "the most valuable contribution to the architectute of Sydney" in its day. (Art in Australia, 23 May, 1940.) The architects, Fowell and McConnell, won the Sulman Award in 1943 for the building and the Royal Institute of British Architects bronze medal in 1947.
The buildings interior was kept very simple in decoration and was keeping in theme with the "clean and functional quality of the Orient liners ORION and ORCADES". Part of this was a 20 pane glass panel featuring a design by Leyton Lamb, a reknown illustrator from London who had also contributed to Orient Lines on board ship decoration and menus etc from 1935 - 1950. Lamb would go onto greater reknown as the designer of the bible for Queen Elizabeth's II Coronation and for a series of commerorative stamps of the Queen that were re-released in 2005.
SignificanceThe glass panels are not only historically and artistically significant, but also tell part of the story of immigration in Australia and the rise of cruising, with which Orient Lines became synonymous.