Whyalla – Signwriting Capital of the World?
Day 5 – Tuesday 17th July – 763 Km – Port Lincoln to Adelaide
Whyalla, second largest city in SA, has an amazing collection of signage and fonts on shops and pubs. I couldn’t work out if they were conserved for heritage reasons or had just never been repainted.
A small sample:
Spencer Hotel – a lovely Art Deco building with brilliant signage.
The Whyalla Hotel looking a bit worse for wear. The verandah posts are rotting and the balconies are collapsing. Can someone help?
November 7th, 2008 at 2:32 am
You’ll be glad to hear that the Whyalla hotel in now being renovated. Pity you didn’t get to the Bayview Hotel on the next corner it has even more original art deco features especially interior ones.
November 7th, 2008 at 3:56 am
Thanks for the update Joanne. It looked a bit sad when I was there.
Whalla High School is now one of our customers so I might have an excuse to go back and check it out.
April 27th, 2009 at 10:50 am
It looks like a wild west village. Very impressiv pictures.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Those are some groovy signs! Its a refreshing change from the everyday electric fireworks! I hope they aren’t taken over too. I guess its mostly because of heritage reasons that they kept it all like this. Either that or retro is never out of style!
September 8th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Hello Bryn, I am the daughter of the owner of The Whyalla Hotel. Yes, Joanne is correct the Hotel has been redeveloped. If you have and email address I can forward you photos of the property as it is now, known as The Playford Whyalla. Our website http://www.theplayford.com.au is being constructed. The next time you are in town please come and have a look. I’m sure you will be surprised and impressed with the elegant development, which has maintain the integrity of the building inside and out!
Kind Regards
Jo Queen
September 9th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Hi Jo
Thanks for letting me know. Great to see old pubs being given new life. I’m writing this in the Heritage Hotel, Rockhampton http://www.theheritagehotel.com.au/and the Criterion Hotel just up the road is good too.