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Former William Yates Boot Factory

Other Name Hill, Norman & Beard - Organ Manufacturers Location 10 Page Street,, CLIFTON HILL VIC 3068 - Property No B4969 File Number B4969 Level Local

[1/1] B4969 Organ Factory Clifton

Statement of Significance

This two storey symmetrical brick factory building on a bluestone base with brick arched domestic type windows with bluestone sills was erected about 1884 as William Yates Boot Factory. Set well back from Page Street in a garden, the only ornamentations on the very plain elevations are contrasting coloured brick quions in the front elevation and a small unobtrusive central roof pediment. A two-storey brick extension at the rear with similar windows but not on a bluestone base was added later.
The factory was taken over in 1927 by Hill, Norman & Beard which was a subsidiary of the English firm of the same name. The firm was established in Australia as a result of securing the contract for the new organ in the Melbourne Town Hall in 1928 that replaced the original organ destroyed by fire in 1925. Part of the flooring of the first storey was removed to enable parts of the large organ to be erected in the factory.
The firm was for many years regarded as the largest organ building firm in the country and the large number of notable organs and rebuilds included St Paul's Cathedral, Christ Church South Yarra, St John's Church Toorak, St Andrew's Cathedral Sydney and St John's Cathedral Brisbane. The firm wound up its operations in Australia in 1974 and the building was sold to the Education Department and is currently being used as a Community Centre for Clifton Hill, by the adjacent Gold Street Primary School, and by the New Theatre Workshop. The miscellaneous outbuildings are not included.
Classified: 12/11/1981