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FORMER FERRY TERRA COTTA AND ENAMELLED BRICKWORKS OFFICE

Location

310 ALBERT STREET BRUNSWICK, MORELAND CITY

File Number

606302

Level

Registered

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Statement of Significance

The Former Office to Graham R Ferry's Terra Cotta and Enamelled Brickworks was constructed in 1887. Built of red brick, and decorated with an ornate terra cotta turret and finely crafted terra cotta architectural mouldings, this eclectic composition of picturesque architectural elements stood at the works entrance as a built "advertisement" to the brickmaker's and potter's craft.

In 1886 the Yorkshire-born Ferry established his own terra cotta business on land leased from Alfred Cornwell's Brunswick Pottery, his former employer. After surviving the economic crash of the 1890s, he expanded his output to include roofing and ridging tiles. The works closed after ferry retired in 1916. The former City of Brunswick purchased the site in 1928 filling in the claypits and demolishing all buildings other than the pottery office which was used to house the scale for a public weighbridge. The scale, manufactured by the Australasian Scale Company of Sydney, remains inside the building.

The Former Ferry Terra Cotta and Enamelled Brickworks Office is of historic and architectural importance to the state of Victoria.

The Former Ferry Terra Cotta and Enamelled Brickworks Office is historically important as one of few buildings to survive from the 'Little Staffordshire' of brickworks and potteries that predominated in Brunswick for over one hundred years. Brunswick had the largest concentration of clay industry works in Victoria. It has further historical significance for its association with talented terra cotta modeller, Graham R Ferry (1847-1924) who owned and successfully managed the terra cotta & enamelled brickworks in Albert Street, as well as other local clay industry properties.

The Former Ferry Terra Cotta and Enamelled Brickworks Office is architecturally important for its unusual eclectic design which creatively incorporates a range of late nineteenth century terra cotta building products into the fabric both for decoration and as a display of the type of wares produced within the works.

Group