Wenzel & Co. Pty Ltd garage and factory, later Adelaide Tailoring Company factory, also Wenley Motor Garage, 39-41 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Title:
Wenzel & Co. Pty Ltd garage and factory, later Adelaide Tailoring Company factory, also Wenley Motor Garage, 39-41 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
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Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 105912
Level of description:
Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
Type of materials:
Graphic materialsTextual material
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Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
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UnrestrictedOpen access.
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UnrestrictedPlease contact City of Melbourne Libraries about obtaining permission to reproduce images.
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RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER 2022:__________________________________________________DATE: 1919;ASSOCIATIONS: Wenzel & Co. Pty Ltd.;DESIGNER: D F Stevenson;BUILDER: Clements LangfordOTHER ASSOCIATIONS: Adelaide Tailoring Company, Wenley Motor Garage.CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEW__________________________________________________Statement of SignificanceWhat is significant?Former Wenley Motor Garage at 39-41 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, built in 1919.Elements that contribute to the significance of the building include (but are not limited to):· The building’s original external form;· The building’s relatively high level of integrity to its original design;· The brick parapet and rendered cornice;· The pattern and size of fenestration, segmented arched windows; and· The brickwork and brick sills.Later alterations are not significant.How it is significant?The former Wenley Motor Garage at 39-41 Little Collins Street, Melbourne is of local historic andrepresentative significance to the City of Melbourne.Why it is significant?The building at 39-41 Little Collins Street is historically significant for its association with the clothingmanufacturing industry and with the provision of services for the motor car which increasedsignificantly in the interwar period. Historically 37-41 Little Collins Street demonstrates overlappinguses by auto mechanics and clothing manufacturing. The upper floor workrooms were used byclothing manufacturers Adelaide Tailoring Co, and Alpha Manufacturing Co until the end of the 1920s and Chapman Manufacturing Co until the 1930s. From the 1920s to the 1940s, the ground floor of 39-41 Little Collins Street was in use by businesses servicing the then new and growing motor carservice industry. This use was represented by motor engineer G A Drury (later Drury and Co)throughout the 1920s, and Parish Motor Service from the late 1930s to early 1940s. (Criterion A)With its simple rectangular built form and small window openings, 39-41 Little Collins Street isrepresentative of utilitarian brick warehouses and other manufacturing buildings constructed duringthe late Edwardian and the early interwar period. Built in 1919 it is characterised by brick constructionwith small segmented arched windows with parapet and cornice detail to the upper floor. Althoughnow overpainted and with some alterations to wall openings, it is still legible as a small industrialbuilding constructed in the Edwardian era. (Criterion D)Primary sourceHoddle Grid Heritage Review (Context & GJM Heritage, 2020).GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM__________________________________________________CITY OF MELBOURNE BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATIONSIndex Cardhttps://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/60672/images/44777_349576-007971919 March 1854 ₤3000 Erection of brick garage and factory - PROV file but no drawings?owner Wenzel & Co. Pty Ltd of Flinders Lane; Architect D F Stevenson; Builder Clements Langford. Site plan shows site of `41' as `vacant'. Internal wall finish bagged for lime washing, exterior brickwork with struck joints, ground floor clad with bricks on edge;1944 Alterations and additions …1992__________________________________________________CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWsummaryHistorically significant for its association with the clothing manufacturing industry and motor car services, and demonstrates overlapping uses.Significant as a representative example of a late Edwardian and early interwar utilitarian brick warehouse.SITE HISTORYThe site at 39-41 Little Collins Street was part of the fifth Crown land sales in 1839 (Crown allotment 5 of section 9). Lanes and subdivisions were developed by 1839 and by 1850, there was a building on the site. By 1888, two two-storey buildings had been erected, and by 1905, one of them remained on the site (Fels, Lavelle & Mider 1993).The three-storey warehouse at 39-41 Little Collins Street (Figure 1) was built in 1919, replacing a two-storey building at 41 Little Collins Street and a single-storey building at 39 Little Collins Street (Mahlstedt 1910).Figure 1. A section of an aerial photo taken in 1950 showing the warehouse at 39-41 Little Collins Street, Aerial view of Melbourne looking south east, Victoria, 1950, by C D Pratt. (Source: SLV)It is unknown who commissioned or erected the three-storey warehouse at 39-41 Little Collins Street, but by October 1919 the Adelaide Tailoring Company’s new workrooms were housed in the building and the Company was advertising for machinists (Age 1 October 1919:14). Most of these positions are likely to have been taken up by women. The building first appeared in the Sands and McDougall Directory in 1920, with the ground floor noted as vacant and the upper storeys tenanted by the Adelaide Tailoring Co, and the Alpha Manufacturing Co, blouse and underclothing manufacturers.The Adelaide Tailoring Company was established in Adelaide in 1897 by J L Glick and extended its operations into Western Australia ten years later. The Company commenced operations in Melbourne in 1915 in Elizabeth House, at the corner of Little Collins and Elizabeth streets (Figure 2) and stayed at that address until 1943. It was noted by Glick in 1917 that the ‘company makes a speciality of following the best English fashions, providing its customers with sensible, scientifically cut, properly-finished suits on English models, in preference to the exaggerated nonsense of the American caricatures’ (Tribune 17 May 1917:8). In Victoria by 1941, the company had opened branches at Ballarat, Geelong, Shepparton and Mildura. The Company advertised that it had a reputation for providing reasonably priced tailored suits, ‘offering discounts and specials even during the depression or wartimes’ (Sunday Times WA 9 September 1934:8). In 1943, the Adelaide Tailoring Company moved its headquarters to 370 Collins Street (Argus 17 February 1943:5). The Adelaide Tailoring Company retained its workrooms on the first floor of 39-41 Little Collins Street until the end of the 1920s (S&Mc 1920-1931).The Alpha Manufacturing Company relocated to the second floor of 39-41 Collins Street from St John’s Lane off Bourke Street in c.1919 (Age 18 May 1917:11). In 1923, the second floor was occupied by new lessees, the Chapman Manufacturing Co. It is possible that the Chapman Manufacturing Co was part of the former firm of Andrews and Chapman, blouse and underclothing manufacturers, whose workrooms in Flinders Lane were severely damaged by fire in January 1923 (S&Mc 1924; Argus 29 January 1923:7; S&Mc 1923-24). The Chapman Manufacturing Co stayed at 39-41 Little Collins Street until the 1930s.The ground floor of 39-41 Little Collins Street was occupied by Wenley Motor Garage by 1920 and was used through to the early 1940s by businesses established to service the growing motorcar industry (Figure 3). Early tenants included motor engineer G A Drury (later Drury and Co) in the early to mid-1930s; and the Parish Motor Service from the late 1930s to early 1940s (S&Mc 1920-1942).The Parish Motor Service had its hire service office across the street at 42 Little Collins Street (now replaced with an eight-storey carpark), leasing the ground floor of 39-41 Little Collins Street for garage use only (S&Mc 1938-1942).Throughout the mid-twentieth century, 39-41 Little Collins Street was occupied by various businesses including the Gloria Glove Company (Age 22 November 1949:8), Oxford Press Pty Ltd, printers (Weekly Times 14 February 1951:48; S&Mc 1938-1942), Yellow Cabs Australia car rental company (Advocate 13 November 11952:4), and Sportswear Distributors Pty Ltd (Age 28 January 1967:57).The warehouse was converted to offices and retail in 1966, and the ground floor was refurbished and converted to a restaurant in 2001. The property currently houses three businesses and one food and drink outlet (CoMMaps).Figure 2. Signage for the Adelaide Tailoring Company is visible on the ground and first floors, at Elizabeth House (now demolished). (Source: University of Melbourne)Figure 3. A view of 39-41 Little Collins Street with a sign ‘Car Rentale’ in Aerial views of Melbourne, looking south west and west. (Source: Commercial Photographic Company pre-1965, STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA )REFERENCESAge, as cited.Argus, as cited.CASSANDRA 2016, ‘Brunch, Croissants and Doughnut at Guildford Lane’ in Table To Paper, http://tabletopaper.com/2016/08/08/brunch-croissants-and-doughnuts-at-guildford-lane/, accessed 21 June 2017.Churchward, Matthew 2008, ‘Transport’ in eMelbourne, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne, http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM01510b.htm, accessed 13 June 2017.City of Melbourne Maps (CoMMaps), 39-41 Little Collins Street, http://maps.melbourne.vic.gov.au/, accessed 25 May 2017.Commercial Photographic Company c.1930-1969, ‘Aerial views of Melbourne, looking south west and west’, Harold Paynting Collection, State Library of Victoria (SLV), accessed 22 June 2017.Context Pty Ltd 2012, ‘Thematic History: A History of the City of Melbourne’s Urban Environment’, prepared for the City of Melbourne.Dingle, Tony 2008, ‘Manufacturing’ in eMelbourne, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne, http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00896b.htm, accessed 13 June 2017.Fels, M, Lavelle, S & Mider, D 1993, ‘Archaeological Management Plan’, prepared for the City of Melbourne.Lovell Chen 2017, ‘Melbourne Planning Scheme Amendments C271 and C301 – Guildford and Hardware Laneways Heritage’, prepared for the City of Melbourne.Mahlstedt, G 1910, Index to City of Melbourne detail fire survey, Mahlstedt, Melbourne.Sands and McDougall, Melbourne and Suburban Directories (S&Mc), as cited.Pratt, Charles Daniel 1950, ‘Aerial view of Melbourne looking south east, Victoria’, State Library of Victoria (SLV) John Etkins collection, accessed 22 June 2017.Reinforced Concrete and Monier Pipe Construction Co. Pty Ltd (RCMPCC) 1914, ‘Elizabeth House, Elizabeth Street, Melbourne’, University of Melbourne Archives, accessed 22 June 2017.Tribune, as cited.__________________________________________________ .NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)1915https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/151757768A NEW TAILORING COMPANY.It will be seen from our advertising columns that a new tailoring company has commenced business, and it is likely to become very popular. Elizabeth House is a new erection in Elizabeth-street, adjoining the headquarters of the State Savings Bank. Its corner to Little Collins-street is occupied by the Adelaide Tailoring . Company, which openedthis Melbourne extension of its business recently…see alsohttps://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2423506781916https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/242377755TAILORING SEASON SHOWS ROSEATE HUESADELAIDE TAILORING COMPANY PROSPERSIt Is impossible not to- feel an Interest In the prosperity of an enterprising firm, and thus It was that this afternoon an interviewer entered the premises of the Adelaide ' .Tailoring Company and asked the proprietor, Mr J L Glick…1917ADELAIDE TAILORING COMPANY MAKES PREPARATIONS…It Is our Intention to spare no effort to retain the custom we have gained during tho past two years, and in pursuance of our policy to continue to extend the business at the Adelaide Tailoring Company's Corner, Elizabeth and Little Collins streets.1918ADELAIDE TAILORING CO. The Adelaide Tailoring Company has just opened a Sydney branch, and the business already transacted in that city has exceeded expectations. In Melbourne the Company carries on business at the corner of Elizabeth and Little Collins streets, and it has also a branch at 20 Leeds-street, Footscray. The Company is still supplying 63/ suits, which arc of extraordinary value. Country clients can rely on receiving every attention, and patterns and self measurement forms are posted free1920https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/170612445The Adelaide Tailoring Company's Annual Picnic...On Easter Monday the Adelaide Tailoring Company passed another landmark in its progress. It was the occasion of the firm's first annual picnic given to its Melbourne employes, and held at South Morang. Five dragloads left the firm's premises, at the corner of Elizabeth and Little Collins Streets, about 10 a.m., arriving at their destination in time for lunch…
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1253767
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 105912 | 1 JPEG : 385 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |