Sydney Art Deco Heritage

The Parker Pen Factory was located in the Art Deco style building at 159-163 Cleveland Street in Redfern. In the Darlington Conservation Area report (CA17) the façade of this old factory "... also makes a contribution to the streetscape of Cleveland street as a remnant Interwar element, and is considered worthy of retention". Hopefully it is retained if the Major Project Application which has been lodged with the Department of Planning for a mixed commercial & residential development goes ahead. Facade detail A redevelopment of the site was proposed in 2011. "The proposal was for a 5-storey, 461 bed student accommodation facility with ground floor communal recreation spaces organised around a large landscaped courtyard. The building is entered off the corner of Cleveland and Abercrombie Street with student lounge, meeting and communal laundry located along Cleveland Street and accessed directly of the courtyard". Part of the proposal was that the C...

Also known as the Vita-Weat building this heritage landmark located at 476 Parramatta Road in Ashfield was the Peek Frean Biscuit factory from 1935 to 1975. Vita-Weat crispbreads were first produced by Peek Frean in the UK and were the foundation product when the biscuit company opened its Australian subsidiary at a factory in Camperdown in 1932. At that time, Australia was an important export market for Peek Frean and setting up a manufacturing operation here allowed them to avoid import tariffs. Vita-Weat was their best-known product at the time. The land where the factory now stands belonged to the Ashfield Children’s Home. They sold the northern portion of the land fronting Parramatta Road on the 6th of October 1935 to Peak Freans (Australia) Ltd Biscuit Manufacturers, who constructed a biscuit factory on the site. This land had never been developed. The company engaged well-known Sydney architects Ross & Rowe to design their factory which opened in 1936. The building w...

Located at 480 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills, the building is currently the headquarters of Opera Australia. The company recently had the building repainted which highlights the features of this excellent Art Deco building. Before Opera Australia purchased the building in the late 1980's it was a Hudson's Hardware store for many years. The building design has an horizontal emphasis which is accentuated by rounded corners which soften the vertical aspect of the walls. Cement rendered horizontal bands further emphasis the streamline effect. Above the main entrance is a classic Art Deco stepped parapet which adds an air of majesty to the building. The Opera Australia building extends back the full depth of the block to the next street. Due to the slope of the site the second storey at the front section of the building becomes the ground floor at the rear. The workshop area on the front ground floor has been heavily excavated towards the rear of the building due to the slope of th...

The Ateco Manufacturing Facility is located at 634-726 Princes Highway in Tempe. The property consists of two lots that belonged to a widow from 1926 to 1940. THey were then purchased by the Perpetual Trustee Company who owned them until 1947. New owners WD & HO Wills sold in 1954 to Penfolds Wines. Dalwood Vineyards then had them from 1956 to 1986. Penfold Management Services Pty Limited owned the Lots until 1994. From 1995 to 2007 it belonged to Ateco Automotive Pty Limited and the current owner is Valad Commercial Management Limited. The clock tower Sources: Coffey Environmental Assesment

Located at 267 & 269-271 Cleveland Street Redfern the former Demco Machinery buildings occupy a site on the corner of Great Buckingham and Cleveland Streets adjacent to the Surrey Club Hotel. The earlier building, at 271 Cleveland Street, was constructed circa 1911 as the Sydney Tobacco Co Store which subsequently became John Barlow - Tea Merchants. Demco Machinery occupied the building from 1930. The later building at 267 Cleveland St (cnr Great Buckingham) was constructed on the site of the former St Margaret's Hospital for Women Dispensary around 1940. Another view of the building The entrance to the building is highlighted by a stepped parapet and wedge shaped frontispiece containing the building name -"Demco, flanked by ribbed rainwater heads, vertical glass panels on the stairwell, a projecting concrete awning and ribbed render columns that frame the entrance. The Buckingham Street building is a four storey interwar Functionalist style commercial building...

The Global Self Storage building is located at 602 Botany Road, Rosebery. The building has no heritage listing but has interesting Art Deco brickwork on the front facade albeit a bit garishly painted now.

The Burley Griffin Incinerator at 47-53 Forsyth Street in Glebe was designed by Walter Burley Griffin as a municipal incinerator, much smaller and simpler in design than the examples at Pyrmont and Willoughby. A large Semi-circular stone structure nearby is in the same style as the stone base of incinerator. It was built 1933. Facade detail It is a very inviting entrance. Abandon all hope ye who enter! Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings

The former Hahn Automotive Services at 117-117A Cleveland Street in Darlington is a rare example of an interwar Art Deco style service station that dates from the key period for the development of service stations in NSW from 1925 to 1939. Plans for the existing building were submitted to council 10/9/37. The building was built on the site in 1939 as a service station and was designed by DT Morrow & Gordon architects of 129 Pitt Street Sydney for Messrs Chippendale Estates Ltd. It has continued being a service station to this day. Sources: Sydney of Sydney Archives and History Resources

Originally known as Freeman's Garage, Abrahams service station is a fine example of the interwar period Functionalist-Art Deco style of architecture located at 46-48 Parramatta Road, Summer Hill. Frank Freeman, a motor engineer, submitted a Building Application at the end of 1938 for the erection of a Garage and Flat with an estimated value of £3,000. The building was designed by Crick & Furse architects who were prominent Sydney architects who specialised in cinema design as well as industrial and domestic work. Facade detail "The building is set back from Parramatta Road behind a projecting awning, having a semicircular fascia and a pair of supporting stanchions. The concrete ground floor contains large workshop areas accessible from both Parramatta Road and Sloane Street, a sales room, an office and toilets. Steel framing supports the timber upper floor, which is an ample two-bedroom unit, originally accessed by stairs from Sloane Street. The characteristic ele...

The heritage listed AGM Glass Factory at 851 South Dowling Street in Moore Park was constructed in 1938 to the design of Mitchell Henry Potter, an AGM Company Engineer. It was completed in 1940. The building is of aesthetic significance as a highly intact outstanding example of a landmark industrial building of the Interwar Functionalist style. It totally dominates the corner site opposite the Moore Park Super Centre. It “was regarded as the architectural flagship of the Company as the building encompassed a modern stylishness and efficient image.” (Godden Mackay Logan) Below shows some detail of the South Dowling street facade while the other photo indicates the dominance the building has looking from the Super Centre corner. Sources: Sydney Heritage Listings Do.co,mo.mo-Australia