User:Cnwb/Brunswick

Historic buildings of Brunswick, Victoria, Australia. This page is a holding-place for information that may someday form an article on the history of Brunswick. Additions are warmly welcomed.

130 Barkly Street. A bluestone cottage located at 130 Barkly Street, Brunswick. Believed to be built in the late 1850s by local quarryman Mathew Birkett. This building pre-dates the landboom of the 1880s.

Brunswick Market. The former Brunswick Market opened on 19 September 1930, as an attempt to stop the drift of locals towards Queen Victoria Market. The complex contained Melbourne's alleged first self-serve grocer. The market failed to lure customers from nearby Sydney Road and the Queen Victoria Market, and was handed over to a liquidator in 1933. The building was subsequently used as a storage facility for the Red Cross. The architecture, designed by local architect I. G. Anderson, is of the Spanish Colonial Revival style, popular throughout the 1920s.

Carrington Hotel. The Carrington Hotel is located on the corner of Union Street and Hennessy Street, in Brunswick. The site was originally occupied by the Phillipstown Hotel (Phillipstown was an early name for the area). The Phillipstown was probably built between 1851 and 1853 by John Cuser, who had purchased the land from John Hodgson on 1 April 1851. Cuser died in 1853. Well-known hotelier Samuel Halfpenny obtained the first license for the hotel on 18 April 1855. The name had been changed to The Butchers' Arms by 1867, reflecting the importance of nearby Heller's Slaughteryards. In 1873 it was taken over by Thomas Hennessy, and stayed in his family until well into the twentieth century. Hennessy Street is most likely named after this family. It was renamed The Carrington in 1928 and received extensive alterations. By the mid-1990s, the hotel had a French restaurant at the rear. As of 3 January 2006, the hotel is for sale, and seems unlikely to remain a pub.

The East Hotel. The East Hotel is located on the north-east corner of Lygon Street and Albert Street, Brunswick East. It was built in 1888, during the land-boom in the area, and licensed to Henry Volkmer. It was originally known as the East Brunswick Club Hotel. It is a grand three-storey building and is, curiously, not listed in the Melway. In early-2006, the hotel underwent rennovations, and now acts as a live music venue. It has also reverted back to its original name; the East Brunswick Club.
 * East Brunswick Club website
 * Photos of the hotel from 1964 (via State Library of Victoria archives)

Hoffman Brickworks. The Hoffman Patent Brick & Tile Company was established in 1870, and was the first large-scale brickworks in Victoria. The company pioneered many brickmaking technologies in the state, including the Hoffman kiln, for which it held the patent. In 1884 the company developed a new brickyard on Dawson Street, which employed over 400 men and produced over 40 million bricks per year, reflecting the importance of the industry on the landboom of the 1880s. After the depression of the 1890s, the company expanded throughout the following decades. In 1960 the company was taken over by Clifton Holdings, which downsized operations and sold off assets. By the 1990s, the complex was still in operation by Nubrik. As of 2005 the site had been abandoned and had been developed as residential housing. The complex remains the only extant example of the clay industry which was central to Brunswick's development.

alternative/additional: Prior to 1914 (ie, World War I), Brunswick was the "brickyard capital of Victoria", providing the required resources during Melbourne's rapid expansion. Thomas Manallack, who arrived in the area in early 1849, is claimed to have been Brunswick's first brickmaker. The Hoffmans Brick Company, one of the largest and most enduring companies of that time, was founded by Jenkin Collier and James McKenzie. The Hoffmans whistle, which rang from 7:15 to 7:20 in the morning, to wake workers, was so regular that locals could set their watches by it.

In 1947, the Hoffman No 1 pit began to be filled in. Not only did it take 17 years to fill, but it was another 17 years before the pit "settled" enough so that the local Council could decide what to do with the land. It became a park, named the M.W. Clifton Reserve.

The Hoffman Brick Company finally came to an end in 1952, when the Clifton Brick Company took over. The #2 pit was closed as was most of the plant, leaving only three kilns still in use.







Railway Hotel. The Railway Hotel is located on the corner of Albert Street and Henry Street. It was built in 1890, and is one of six triple-storey hotels in Brunswick which were built during the landboom.

Sporting Club Hotel. The Sporting Club Hotel...

The Union Hotel. The Union Hotel...

Brunswick Baths. In 1913, Council borrowed £10,000, a significant investment, to start up the Brunswick Baths. The Baths opened in January 1914, at a time when most private households did not have showers or baths. They were open six days a week, and closed on Sundays. Mixed bathing was not permitted until 1930 - before then, just one day each week was for women, and the rest for men only. In 1927 the Baths were extended - a second indoor pool was built and the original was modified to meet Olympic standards. After these extensions, the pool was used for Victorian swimming championships. It was mooted that the pool might be used during the 1956 Olympic Games, but their stature was lessened when the Olympic Pool was constructed. The brick walls along the western and part of the eastern side are the most visible elements of what remains of the original 1914 Baths. A 33 feet diving board that was originall installed was removed sometime after 1928. One local resident recalled, "For one hour on Sunday morning we used to ride a bike off the [[33 feet diving] tower. We all had a lot of fun and the people love it."





130 Dawson Street. In 1848, Michael Dawson (for whom Dawson Street is named) built his homestead here. It was an "English-style mansion-house". In 1876, Dawson died, and by 1883, Phoenix Park had been subdivided, the house had been demolished, and the land became part of the Hoffman Brick Manufactury. In 1952, the Hoffmans company came to and end, and by the next year the land was occupied by E.M.P. Foundry P/L. For the next three decades, it remained much the same, until in 1984 it became the site for Murray-Goulburn Dairy Co-operative offices and stores, which is how it remains at present.

Source:

Some things to add

 * Kevron Plastics, a company established in Brunswick in 1952, most famous for manufacturing plastic keyrings used by teh RACV since 1956.
 * The former Tip top bakery on 170 Edward Street. Is it historic / significant enough? - yep its gonna be turned into apartments now
 * The Lygon Street tram spur, the only remnant of a tram line which ran from Lygon Street to St Georges Road, along Brunswick Road and Holden Street. An archived article from The Age, and good ol' Railpage has a thread about it:

Sources for further research

 * The City of Moreland's Research and Archives Page
 * Brunswick Community History Group