ARCHITECTURE buff Philip Butler is on a mission to document some of the most striking buildings in Worcestershire.

He is a fan of Art Deco – the flamboyant visual arts style from the Twenties and Thirties that made its way into everything from skyscrapers to luxury liners – and he is searching for examples of it in the county.

The plan is to research and photograph every Art Deco building he can find and then write a book.

His list of examples is growing. It includes cinemas, garages, factories, offices, churches, shops, a water tower and, of course, Droitwich lido.

Mr Butler, aged 35, of College Road, Malvern, had been interested in Art Deco for some time, but unable to visit the strongholds of the movement in cities such as Miami, New York, Cape Town and Sydney, he decided to turn his attention closer to home.

He has no architectural or art training – he is a wine specialist for Waitrose – but has developed an amateur's fascination for his subject.

He said: "Art Deco is so stylish and eye-catching. It seems to me to have been a great era of art and design."

He was inspired to write a book by the grade II-listed war memorial bus shelter in Barnards Green, Malvern, which although built after the decline of Art Deco is admired for its 'streamline moderne' styling.

Mr Butler said: "I wondered if it was part of an undiscovered treasure-trove of buildings just waiting to be celebrated.

"So using a mixture of friends' local knowledge, books and the internet I am now on a mission to research and photograph all the Art Deco buildings in Worcestershire in my spare time and compile them in a book."

He struggles to pick his own favourite, but singles out the 1938 Northwick Cinema in Worcester as one of the most iconic on his list.

The one area of his research in which he needs help is residential buildings, and he is appealing for anyone who knows of or lives in an Art Deco house in Worcestershire to get in touch with him at p_butler@outlook.com.

Worcester News:

HOW TO SPOT AN ART DECO BUILDING

1. Smooth stucco walls with rounded corners are a dead giveaway for Art Deco.

2. Look out for symmetry and geometric shapes such as polygons, chevrons, zig-zags (see picture above)

3. Art Deco buildings are never without ornament. Typical are swans, lilies and sunburst motifs.

4. Expect it to dazzle with eye-catching inlays of gold and brass.

5. It will have luxurious modern building materials such as glass blocks, chrome, Bakelite and mirrors.