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Interwar Factories

Other Name

Factory, G. Burgin, Perfection Knitting Mills, Austral Wire and Fence, Hopely's, Sleeping Beauty

Location

103-105 EVANS STREET, and 236, 238, 240, 260 & 297 LYGON STREET, BRUNSWICK EAST, MORELAND CITY

Level

Included in Heritage Overlay

[1/4]
Interwar factories serial
[2/4]
297 Lygon Street Brunswick
[3/4]
236 Lygon Street Brunswick
[4/4]
260-275 Lygon Street Brunswick

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The buildings which make up the Interwar Factories series as described are located in Lygon Street and Evans Street Brunswick. The factories are on a variety of single or multiple allotments of varying size, which are non-contiguous, with the exception of those located at 236, 238, 240 & 260 Lygon Street. The factories are all constructed of brick, either face brick with rendered dressings or rendered brick. 236 and 260 Lygon Street are two storey factories (incorporating office facilities on the upper floor?) while the remainder are single storey. Rooflines are generally concealed behind parapets, but where visible from the public realm, they illustrate a progression over time. Generally, all of the buildings are in good to very good condition and although there have been minor alterations, retain a high degree of integrity externally

The buildings generally date from the 1930s or very late 1920s, and can be divided into two distinctive styles; Eclectic and Moderne. The Eclectic style buildings (103-105 Evans Street, 240 Lygon Street and 297 Lygon Street) exhibit elements of the Free Classical, stripped Greek Revival and stripped Egyptian Revival respectively. The Moderne style factories have flat unadorned parapets, with Art Deco fins, curved walls and decoration provided by contrasting bands of smooth render and red brick.

Included in this series are the following places::

- Former Sleeping Beauty Factory - 103 -105 Evans Street, Brunswick
- Former Hopely's Factory - 236 Lygon Street, Brunswick
- Former Factory - 238 Lygon Street, Brunswick
- Former Austral Wire and Fence Company - 240 Lygon Street, Brunswick
- Former G. Burgin Factory - 260 Lygon Street, Brunswick
- Former Perfection Knitting Mills - 297 Lygon Street, Brunswick

How is it significant?
The Interwar Factories series is of historical and aesthetic (architectural) significance to the City of Moreland.

Why is it significant?
Historically, the series of six interwar factories are the best representative examples of the numerous small factories constructed in the Lygon Street North area in the period between 1920 and 1940, made possible by the trade protection of the textile industry in Australia in the early twentieth century. The factories in this series are able to demonstrate a high degree of integrity externally and provide evidence of the important manufacturing (and particularly, textile manufacturing) industry which employed large numbers of local men and women before 1945, and an increasingly large migrant workforce post 1945. The factories are of further historical significance as they represent the strong industrial focus and mixed use of Brunswick, which mixed working class housing with the places of work of its residents. (Criterion A)

Architecturally, the six factories are significant as examples of interwar styles applied to an industrial building and are notable for the detailing to their facades. The three earliest factories demonstrate the eclecticism seen in the first half of this period, ranging from Free Classical (103-105 Evans St), to stripped Greek Revival (297 Lygon St), and the rare Egyptian Revival (240 Lygon St). The other three demonstrate the dominance of the Moderne style in the later interwar years, as well as its evolution from the more decorative and polychromed factory at 260 Lygon St, with its decorative fins, also seen in a more delicate form at 236 Lygon St, to the stripped back and austere factory at 238 Lygon St which relies on the juxtaposition of horizontal concrete hoods and a curved wall. (Criteria D & E)

Group