Porta and Sons, Steam Bellows Works, 25 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Title:
Porta and Sons, Steam Bellows Works, 25 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
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Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 110723
Level of description:
Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
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Graphic materialsTextual material
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Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
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UnrestrictedOpen access.
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RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER 2024:__________________________________________________DATE: 1883-4;ASSOCIATIONS: Porta, Joseph of Porta & Sons bellows makers;DESIGNER: Elliott, (William?);BUILDER: Stanesby, GHPeriod: Victorian.GRAEME BUTLER & ASSOCIATES 2011, CENTRAL CITY (HODDLE GRID) HERITAGE REVIEWStatement of Significance.What is significant?This building was constructed for Joseph Porta, then of Porta & Sons bellows makers, as a warehouse to the design of William Elliott in 1883. The elevation resembles a simplified version of the McCracken Brewery malt store also designed by Elliott in Little Collins St in the late 1870s and his warehouse designs for Corrs Lane and the Currie & Richards' warehouse (1875).Joseph Jeremiah Porta (1820-98) and his descendants conducted a successful bellows making business in the Little Lonsdale precinct and nearby for over ninety years, commencing at least as early as 1866 and concluding in 1959. Joseph was born in Birmingham in 1820 to John Baptist Porta (born 1793 in Italy) and his wife Jane. The gold era's expansion in population had created sufficient demand for blacksmiths for Porta to establish what is claimed as the first bellows making business in Victoria, if not Australia, at 146 (later 25) Little Lonsdale Street East, on the corner of the infamous Casselden Place. This was in 1866 when he was forty-six.Since the late 1860s Porta had leased the property from a tinsmith, William Mills, who had owned a wood and brick workshop of 2 rooms there. Prior to that a brick workshop and forge was occupied by Porta's associate, Alex Lugton (of Lugton, A., & Sons, engineers) and Mills. The property contained a timber and brick workshop when occupied by Alexander Lugton as an engineer and smith between 1859 and 1863. Porta had also had a two-storey house erected on this site in 1877, coinciding with a valuation increase for the property of near 50% 1876-1877.With consolidation of the population and the economy, blacksmith numbers expanded rapidly: ninety-four were listed in Melbourne directories in 1861, rising to 160 by 1872, a 70 per cent increase in just over a decade. They all required bellowsBy the 1880s the Porta firm was one of the Colony's foremost bellows manufacturers and exhibited along with only one other bellows maker at the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880-1, as only the second international exhibition to be held in Australia. The firm was given the First Order of Merit and a silver medal in the machines and machine tools class but had already entered four products in the prestigious 1875 Inter Colonial Exhibition.Joseph's family had lived at 114 Napier Street, Fitzroy from 1868, moving to Alphington after his partial retirement in 1883, and leaving the business to sons Joseph and John. The family business evolved to become Porta timber mouldings, claimed to be Australia's leading mouldings supplier in 2004.Rate records of the mid 1880s show Francis & Co Chemists leasing 25 Little Lonsdale Street as a laboratory from Joseph Porta and later the Chinese cabinetmaker, Ah Chee Soon (Ah Chee & Co), leased it from previous owners, including the Mills family. Chee Lung & Co and later Quong, Wah & Co cabinet makers continued this use into the 1930s. The advent of Young Motor Products accessories manufacturers was a sign of the change from Chinese commerce to motor trade uses in the mid 1930s.The original parapeted and skillion-roofed structure was extended to its present size in the twentieth century: the building's roof was damaged by fire in 1940 and reinstated by builders, Messrs Hollows & Sons, for the estate of AG Jones, a ladies handbag maker of Therry Street. The building permit application drawings show reconstruction of the first floor, parapet and hipped roof of the rear wing, with the front skillion roof section untouched externally. This front section was converted for use as an entry and stair lobby for the wing behind while the old stair in the rear section was removed. For greater safety and to comply with regulations the building was to be used as a single occupancy: it had been two, with Young's Motor Products on the upper level and J Morris engineer on ground level. The rear upper level was to be storage.The former factory is a simple parapeted skillion roof structure with a ruled rendered façade and decoration limited to a simple string courses and cornice. Fenestration is regularly arranged with arcuated windows and door openings. Unusual original or early window joinery appears to have survived in the front wing. The rear addition is clearly distinguishable in roof form and the use of machine made pressed red brickwork: it appears to date from the Edwardian-era when used for cabinetmaking with the 1940 repairs confined to the parapet and change to upper level window sills.It is a good example of an early factory warehouse building and illustrates the gradual shift from mixed residential to factory uses which occurred in this part of the City during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with occupation by Chinese in the Edwardian-era as Melbourne's Greater Chinatown. The building façade retains a high degree of integrity to its early state.How is it significant?Porta and Sons, Steam Bellows Works is significant historically to the Melbourne Capital City ZoneWhy is it significant?Porta and Sons, Steam Bellows Works is of historic significance as an excellent and early example of a small factory-warehouse within Melbourne's Capital City Zone as demonstrated by its small scale and limited window area. It illustrates the shift from mixed residential to factory uses in this part of the City during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The building's close association with the successful manufacturer, Joseph Porta is also significant as is the long use as a Chinese cabinetmaking premises, a link to Melbourne's Greater Chinatown of the Edwardian-era._____________________________GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBuILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites source 77___________________________HBPC CBD Area Study (77): 88- cites RB1868, 982 Gipps Ward and D1868 as Alex Lugton (who resided at 11 Gertrude St, Fitzroy moved to 27 by 1889) brick shop and forge, not recommended for National Estate Register , Commonwealth owned so no Historic Buildings Register, no historical significance, says completely intact; Map c1910 shows Lung & Co cabinetmakers and surmised extension. D1889 Francis & Co use it as chemical laboratory by c1889.___________________________LEWIS, M- AUSTRALIAN ARCHITECTURE INDEXsee Burchett Index:MCC Building Permit Application: 16 Oct 1876 6958:Joseph Porta builder/owner `2 storey house' 146 (Little) Lonsdale east ₤1/15/- fee - listed in ledger as `dwelling house'MCC Building Permit Application 13/8/1883 436: Lt Lonsdale St east B= GH Stanesby, A= E Elliott (William Elliott?) , O= `J Porter' warehouse, ₤2/2 fee .MCC Building Permit Application: 26/7/1940 21425 ₤150 reinstate___________________________VPRO Probate: 1882, 1898Series number: VPRS 28Consignment number: P0002Unit number: 485J Porta owns part CA9/25 Town Melbourne 40' to Lt Lonsdale st by 74'9' with a brick factory erected thereon, value ₤800, also Napier st, Fitzroy, etc . estate ₤4335.___________________________John Anthony Leckey 2004' `'Low, Degraded Broots?” Industrial and Entrepreneurialism in Melbourne’s Little Lon 1860 – 1950' (Kew, Vic. : Australian Scholarly Publishing )deals with Porta business. States new brick workshop built at 154 Lt Lonsdale by GH Thornby designed by Elliott in 1883- 6 rooms, with iron roof- see above___________________________DeGruchy & Leigh 1866 isometric- State Library of Victoriashows one storey building on site, with row houses in Casselden Place adjoining at rear___________________________1880 Panorama State Library of Victoriafrom north: shows one storey, , with row houses in Casselden Place adjoining at rearMelbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works detail plan, 1019, City of Melbourne Publication 1895 shows L-shape plan, vacant yard on east side;___________________________Mahlstedt Fire Insurance Plan Series:Mahlstedt & Gee 1888: no planMahlstedt 1910-23: plan 8A: Lung & Co cabinet maker, 2 storey in two sections, front wing with entry on east side, window; longer rear wing with openings both sides and entry at rear. (adjoining Gorman Alley/ Casselden Pl with row houses etc.)Porta shown at 17 Lt Lonsdale St___________________________Melbourne Roll Plan 12 PROV(M1856 or Bibb's):Vacant site at front, small building at rear.___________________________MCC i-Heritage:Central Activities District Conservation Study - Graeme Butler, 1984 : Building Identification Form (BIF): Additions at rear (sympathetic - reinstate original design), part bricks painted on side (inappropriate - remove by approved method), louvres new on upper windows (inappropriate - reinstate original design or sympathetic alternative). Other Comments 19th century section (front) added to, c1900?___________________________Graeme Butler Inspection 2010:shows c1910-20 and later red brick carcase and Victorian-era façade brickwork merging on side elevation. Warehouse façade on east side also in newer brickwork___________________________Ryan, AJ & Edmonds, K (DHC) 1979. Historical and Architectural Development of the Commonwealth Centre site, Melbourne:no individual assessment of this building.___________________________NEWSPAPERS:`The Argus':Thursday 16 May 1867: advert. Lugton's sausage machines plus other brands cheap, 144 Little Lonsdale St.Saturday 16 May 1868, also 12 May as first?Now Lugton's Phoenix works:`SAUSAGE MACHINES, superior to any imported, can be seen at work with horse-power, steam, or band ; also, second-hand Sadler's, Ball's, and other makers, superior brass Fillers, cheaper than imported.A. Lugton, Phoenix Works, Little Lonsdale-street'Saturday 4 September 1875 THE INTERCOLONIAL EXHIBITION. Lugton exhibits.4 November 1874:Lugton's superior CHOPPING and Brass Fitting machines also Barley combining machine for maltster. 144 Little Lonsdale..9 December 1880:`PORTABLE AND SEMI-PORTABLE ENGINES.In the eastern machinery annexe, opposite the state carriages exhibited by the Victorian Railway department, …Lastly, opposite to the above, there is a small semi portable engine by Lugton and Sons, of Little Lonsdale street. This little engine is about as simple as an engine well could be, and would no doubt prove very useful…'17 December 1880:(Exhibition)BELLOWS MANUFACTURES.Judging from the displays made by Messrs. J. Porta and Sons, of Little Lonsdale-street east, and Messrs. Harrop Brothers, of Elizabeth-street north, the bellows manufacturing industry in Melbourne has reached a high standard The first mentioned firm occupy both wall and floor space, and shows very large variety of plain and ornamental work. The fancy articles are in many devices and are richly mounted and illuminated. On the floor is a 44in blacksmith's bellows, a double action blast bellows, and round portable forges adapted for ship builders, boilermakers, &c , all of substantial and neat workmanship. Amongst their specialties is a bellows for sulphuring vines Messrs Harrop Bros also show a double action bellows, a very compact Smith's bellows, and portable forges. The work bestowed on these articles will likewise command attention'Saturday 28 October 1882Porta letter about his evidence to the Tariff Commission.`THE TARIFF COMMISSION.TO THE EDITOR OF THE ARGUS.Sir,-I find by The Argus of this morning, in your report upon the Tariff Commission, that some misunderstanding must have existed in notifying my evidence before the commission. In the first place, you state that during last year our firm turned out 1,086 pairs of household bellows, which should have been 1,086 dozen pairs ; and further on you state that certain wholesale firms who purchased the bellows made by our firm had erased the brands of the factory, and passed them off as imported articles.What I said was that certain wholesale firms who purchased the bellows made by our firm had erased the brands, and the only reason I could account for them so doing was that if the brands were left on, their customer. might see them, and send to us direct for the goods. By inserting the above in your columns you will greatly oblige,-Yours, &c.,JOSEPH G. PORTA,Pro J. Porta and Sons,146 Little Lonsdale-street eastWednesday 13 August 1884J. PORTA and SONS, Steam Bellows Works, 152Little Lonsdale-street east, manufacturers of Portable FORGES, and Bellows of every description made to order. Workmanship guaranteed30 January 1897:`ACCIDENTAL DEATH.An inquest was held by Dr. Youl yester- day at the Alfred Hospital with reference to the death of Michael James Laney, 43 years of age, who died in the Melbourne Hospital on Wednesday last. The evidence showed that the deceased was engaged in cleaning and oiling a crane at Lugton's foundry in Lonsdale-street, when the handle suddenly flew out of his grasp, and struck him a terrible blow on the forehead. He died from inflammation of the brain. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.'___________________________Porta web site:http://www.porta.com.au/company-history/`J. Porta & Sons was established in 1868 by Joseph Porta at 146 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. It was the first industrial bellows making business of its kind in Victoria. By 1920, as business evolved, timber mouldings and other products were also manufactured and traded.Whilst his elder son continued running the city business, Joseph bought land at Fairfield and established a second manufacturing business with his younger son John. John’s sons, Jack and Leslie, developed the Fairfield works in the 1930’s during which time dowels and other timber mouldings were manufactured.In the mid 1930’s, Jack and Les parted company and Les opened up a similar business in Sandringham. Jack continued to operate from Fairfield, developing the business through the acquisition of a sawmill at Tanjil Bren in Country Victoria. Jack Porta’s only daughter married Norman Pizzey during World War II. On his return in 1945, he joined the company which subsequently became incorporated as J.W. Porta & Sons Pty Ltd in 1952…'____________________________
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| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 110723 | 1 JPEG : 241 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |