Farey Brothers' Bakery (former)
20-26 Liddiard Street HAWTHORN, BOROONDARA CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is Significant?
The former Farey Brothers' Bakery at 20-26 Liddiard Street, Hawthorn, is significant. It was constructed in 1915 to a design by architect F.G. Leslie Allen for brothers William Alfred, James Harold and Leslie Francis Farey. The Liddiard Street buildings housed a wholesale bakery, with goods sold through the brothers' retail outlets on Burke Road, Glenferrie Road, and Burwood Road, Hawthorn. The site was used as a bakery until 1970, and at the end of that decade it was converted to offices and workshops.
The site holds a complex of single and double-storey Free Style red brick buildings with cement dressings and tiled gabled roofs. Three principle volumes survive: a two-storey gable-fronted wing with a large arched carriageway through it; a wider section with a transverse gable roof on the west side but set back somewhat from the street and distinguished by a massive double chimney; and a plain, single-storey, gable-fronted building adjoining it on the west side with the same front setback. There is a remnant front wall to the site which was once part of a single-storey building with a low transverse gable roof.
The works associated with the 1979 office conversion are not significant.
How is it significant?
The former Farey Brothers' Bakery is of local historical and aesthetic significance to the City of Boroondara.
Why is it significant?
The Farey Brothers' Bakery is historically significant as one of the small number of pre-WWII industrial buildings to survive in Boroondara. While the former cities of Camberwell and Kew tried to exclude most industry from their boundaries, Hawthorn was the centre of manufacturing in Boroondara for over a century, beginning in the 1840s and '50s with noxious trades, claypits and brickyards. (Criterion A)
The Farey Brothers' Bakery is a very skilful industrial building. Located off the commercial spine of Glenferrie Road, on a narrow residential street, it has been designed in such a way with variety in massing and details, so that it forms a focal point for the street instead of overwhelming the single-storey villas that surround it. The Bakery complex is a fine example of the Federation Free Style, expressed as two-storey architecturally expressed volumes flanked by single-storey utilitarian bakehouse buildings. The two-storey sections are expressed with a decorative front gable terminating in a shouldered arch, with cement detail suggesting a Baroque influence. The wide arch of the carriageway below is repeated in an arch at the base of the massive double chimneys, which are joined at the top with a bold cornice. (Criterion E)
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Farey Brothers' Bakery (former) - Physical Description 1
The former Farey Brothers Bakery is a complex of single and double-storey Free Style red brick volumes with cement dressings and tiled gabled roofs. It stands on the south side of Liddiard Street, a bit east of Glenferrie Road, and is built to the front boundary in a manner typical of commercial buildings.
Three principle volumes survive, with a fourth largely demolished. These are, from east to west, 1) a two-storey gable-fronted wing with a large arched carriageway through it; 2) a wider section with a transverse gable roof on the west side but set back somewhat from the street and distinguished by a massive double chimney; and 3) a plain, single-storey, gable-fronted building adjoining it on the west side with the same front setback. As shown in an early photo (see Figure 4), in the front setback before sections 2 and 3, there was once a single-storey building with a low transverse gable roof. As part of the conversion to offices in 1979, its roof was demolished and part of the east end front wall was removed to provide access to the building behind.
The first section, with the gable front, has a wide round arch at the ground floor, leading to a bluestone-paved carriageway with ledged timber gates. Beside the arch is a residential-sized doorway with a six-panelled door below a small highlight and a flat moulded entablature resting on corbel brackets. There is a moulded cement stringcourse, which follows the arch of the carriageway, delineating the ground from the first floor. The first floor has three irregularly sized and spaced windows: a pair of standard rectangular openings and a small one, where a louvered vent once was. The front facade of this section is completed by a Free Style parapet with cement dressings and an unusual corner chimney. The gabled parapet is shouldered and the gable itself terminates in a shouldered arch. Below this termination is a blind bull's eye window with a label mould and extremely exaggerated keystone that extends to the peak of the gable. This detail appears to have a Baroque influence.
The second section also has a parapeted gable roof, but situated parallel to the street. On the east side, where it abuts the first section, the line of the roof extends downwards, in a cat-slide configuration, almost to the street. There is a pair of standard rectangular window openings on the other side of this facade at first floor level (ground floor is hidden by the remnant front wall). At the centre of this facade is a very striking configuration of two tall chimneys linked by a shared rendered parapet (reading '1915' in stylised numerals), with a window-like opening and a brick arch below.
The third section is far more utilitarian than the others, and may have contained the actual ovens (as suggested by the two chimneys visible in the 1978 photo). It is also of face brick, but without the decorative parapet shape or render dressings. A simple carport structure has been installed along its west side, where it abuts an internal laneway paved with bluestone pitchers.
The conversion of the former bakery buildings into offices and workshops is illustrated by the photos taken in 1978 and 1979. These show the following works: demolition of the roof of the small gabled building along the front of the site, leaving only the front wall (with an opening at the east end for a gateway); rebuilding of the arched carriageway entrance (in-kind); and replacement of all or nearly all original windows. The photos show that most of these were six-over-six and six-over-one double-hung timber sashes. All windows (and the louvered vent on the first section) have been replaced with fixed single-pane windows. While this change to the windows diminishes the fine-grained character of the building, its bold and innovative massing and decorative forms are still intact and impressive to view.Heritage Study and Grading
Boroondara - Municipal-Wide Heritage Gap Study Volume 3: Hawthorn
Author: Context
Year: 2018
Grading: Significant
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