Pics from the Past | From Greek carpenter to Art Deco pioneer: The Neo Cafe legacy

He was a carpenter by trade in his home country, and upon arrival here, he studied further to develop his skills and became a fully fledged shop-fitter. By the 1930s, he had his own shop-fitting business in Sydney.

He became a sought-after designer for the American Art Deco-style café, outfitting about 60 shops in NSW.

The business brought him to Shepparton in 1939, and when a proposed deal failed to go ahead, he decided to design and open his own café. So began the Neo Cafe in Fryers St, ‘neo’ being the Greek word for ‘new’.

The café opened on September 15, 1939, just days after the outbreak of World War II. Stephen, along with his family, owned and operated the business until 1976. The popular Shepparton café remained in its original state of American-style Art Deco and was described by local media as the “best outside the metropolitan area”.

Stephen’s style came to the attention of the Department of Modern History at Sydney’s Macquarie University, and researchers there believed he may have indeed been a formative figure in the development of the Art Deco architectural style in Australia.

The Neo location became the New China and, later, Tellers.

Geoff Allemand is an amateur photographer and Lost Shepparton Facebook page admin. Please share your pics of the past at pastpics@mmg.com.au