This magnificent and decrepit homestead in Sydney's Inner West has quite a complex back story.
Locals report the house was inhabited by an eccentric elderly woman for the past 20 or 30 years. It was during her stay in Brooklyn that the house fell into a state of disrepair. She relocated, selling up the property in mid-2000s to a company that owned the site until 2015 when Brooklyn went up for auction and sold for $700, 000.
Although the homestead is a crumbling disaster zone it has a conservation order due to its historic significance. William Richards, the designer & builder of the Appian Way houses, purchased Brooklyn in 1903 from Miss Mary Spain. He was a self taught designer and builder who came from Wales with his young wife Gwenda Jane originally in 1879 but due to homesickness returned and finally settled in Australia in 1881. Although he did not have any formal architectural training he had extensive building experience in the United Kingdom, Mittagong, and Bowral and had built several City buildings.
His reputation as a reliable builder was probably well established by the time he came to Burwood and he was contracted to build the 36 houses in George Hoskin’s model housing estate. While in Burwood he also built shops in Burwood Road, the tower on Saint Paul’s church and the observatory (now demolished) at the rear of George Hoskins’ Saint Cloud.
By the time of my visit in 2017 the house was still a sad case of neglect; its grounds progressively growing a healthy, tough forest of weeds and cobblers pegs.
Behind the padlocked doors and boarded up windows, no one was looking through the torn curtains on the upper level. As the rain gently fell from its eaves, Brooklyn was sitting in absolute silence; unaware to the outside world.
Source: Burwood & District Historical Society Inc; Domain.
Tags: house villa home homestead estate antique vintage old unique architecture architect building builder pioneer pioneers william richards culture cultural history historic heritage burwood sydney new south wales australia
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Tags: parramatta road granville sydney australia
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Situated along Parramatta Road, New South Wales is a wholesaler called China Fair. This was not its original name, and wholesaling was not its original use. It was in fact a clothing factory; the Jantzen Clothing Factory.
Jantzen is a brand of swimwear established in 1916 and first appeared in the city of Portland, Oregon, United States. The brand featured a logo image of a young woman, dressed in a red one-piece swimsuit and bathing hat, assuming a diving posture with outstretched arms and an arched back. Known as the Jantzen "Diving Girl", the image in various forms became famous throughout the world during the early twentieth century.
The construction of the Jantzen Clothing Factory along Parramatta Road, Lidcome, started in 1938. The building was deisnged by architects William R. Laurie and Eric F. Heath. The building was to be air conditioned, using subsidiary heating. The layout relied on natural ventilation as much as possible. The tower contained a self reliant water tank for fire emergencies. Subcontractors for the factory were; The Sydney Steel Co. Pty. Ltd; James Connolly Pty. Ltd.; James Hardie & Co. Pty. Ltd; Wunderlich Ltd.
In recent years it was used by a wholesaler company and continued to fall into a state of neglect, but nonetheless remains an iconic contributor to the alienesque streetscape of Parramatta Road from Homebush to Auburn and a turning point for M4 commuters when coming/going to/from town.
Source: Trove; Jantzen.
Tags: clothes clothing factory clothing factory textile textiles machine machines architecture building structure warehouse industry industrial worker workers working class culture cultural history historic heritage lidcombe sydney new south wales australia
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Situated along Parramatta Road, New South Wales is a wholesaler called China Fair. This was not its original name, and wholesaling was not its original use. It was in fact a clothing factory; the Jantzen Clothing Factory.
Jantzen is a brand of swimwear established in 1916 and first appeared in the city of Portland, Oregon, United States. The brand featured a logo image of a young woman, dressed in a red one-piece swimsuit and bathing hat, assuming a diving posture with outstretched arms and an arched back. Known as the Jantzen "Diving Girl", the image in various forms became famous throughout the world during the early twentieth century.
The construction of the Jantzen Clothing Factory along Parramatta Road, Lidcome, started in 1938. The building was deisnged by architects William R. Laurie and Eric F. Heath. The building was to be air conditioned, using subsidiary heating. The layout relied on natural ventilation as much as possible. The tower contained a self reliant water tank for fire emergencies. Subcontractors for the factory were; The Sydney Steel Co. Pty. Ltd; James Connolly Pty. Ltd.; James Hardie & Co. Pty. Ltd; Wunderlich Ltd.
In recent years it was used by a wholesaler company and continued to fall into a state of neglect, but nonetheless remains an iconic contributor to the alienesque streetscape of Parramatta Road from Homebush to Auburn and a turning point for M4 commuters when coming/going to/from town.
Source: Trove; Jantzen.
Tags: clothes clothing factory clothing factory textile textiles machine machines architecture building structure warehouse industry industrial worker workers working class culture cultural history historic heritage lidcombe sydney new south wales australia
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