Warehouse "Berman House" including interior

Item details


Name of item:	Warehouse "Berman House" including interior
Type of item:	Built
Group/Collection:	Commercial
Category:	Warehouse/storage area
Primary address:	106-112 Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010
Parish:	Alexandria
County:	Cumberland
Local govt. area:	Sydney

All addresses

Street Address	Suburb/town	LGA	Parish	County	Type
106-112 Commonwealth Street	Surry Hills	Sydney	Alexandria	Cumberland	Primary Address
91-103 Campbell Street	Surry Hills	Sydney	Alexandria	Cumberland	Alternate Address

Statement of significance:


	An intact and representative example of a Inter-War Warehouse displaying elements of the Chicagoesque style, indicative of the period of slum clearance initiated by Sydney City Council to form the Wentworth Avenue manufacturing and warehouse precinct. Aesthetically signficant as a promiment corner building addressing both streets. Construction of the warehouse by employing concrete columns and timber beams and joists demonstrates the transition of tradtional contruction materials to modern concrete structures.
	Date significance updated: 14 Nov 14
	Note: The State Heritage Inventory provides information about heritage items listed by local and State government agencies. The State Heritage Inventory is continually being updated by local and State agencies as new information becomes available. Read the Department of Premier and Cabinet copyright and disclaimer.

Description


Designer/Maker:	Gordon McKinnon 1926, Claud Hamilton 1928
Physical description:	A five storey Inter-War warehouse displaying elements of the Chicagoesque style, including the grid-like façade expressing the framed structure, pronounced vertical pilasters, large timber framed window openings, spandrels expressing the storey division, and decorative parapet features. The chamfered corned features a series of tall and narrow timber framed windows with rendered sills and eaves. The façade of the building is a combination of facebrick and rendered masonry, particularly at the arched window openings, ground floor façade and storey divisions. A curved fabric awning is situated over the openings to the ground floor at the corner and along the Commonwealth street frontage.
Physical condition and/or Archaeological potential:	The warehouse is in good physical condition.
	Date condition updated:30 Oct 03
Further information:	Heritage Inventory sheets are often not comprehensive, and should be regarded as a general guide only. Inventory sheets are based on information available, and often do not include the social history of sites and buildings. Inventory sheets are constantly updated by the City as further information becomes available. An inventory sheet with little information may simply indicate that there has been no building work done to the item recently: it does not mean that items are not significant. Further research is always recommended as part of preparation of development proposals for heritage items, and is necessary in preparation of Heritage Impact Assessments and Conservation Management Plans, so that the significance of heritage items can be fully assessed prior to submitting development applications.


Former use:	Warehouse

History

Historical notes:

The "Eora people" was the name given to the coastal Aborigines around Sydney. Central Sydney is therefore often referred to as "Eora Country". Within the City of Sydney local government area, the traditional owners are the Cadigal and Wangal bands of the Eora.

With the invasion of the Sydney region, the Cadigal and Wangal people were decimated but there are descendants still living in Sydney today.

The warehouse stands on land that was part of the original grant to the first Surry Hills landowner, Captain Joseph Foveaux, who was assigned 105 acres in 1793 and later increased his holdings to encompass most of Surry Hills. By 1800 the farmer and grazier, John Palmer, had acquired more than 200 acres of Surry Hills and become Commissary General. However, by 1814 Palmer had fallen into financial trouble and lost his position in the colony, resulting in his estate being divided by surveyor James Meehan and sold at public auction.

Edwards Riley attempted to reassemble the Palmer Estate during the 1820s, although after his suicide in 1825 the holdings were once again subdivided according to Meehan’s original plan and sold to the public. The economic boom of the 1830s acted as the necessary catalyst for residential development in Surry Hills with the original allotments being initially subdivided into villa estates.

With much of the Riley Estate still locked up in a legal battle the early development in Surry Hills focused on the lands around Albion and Bourke Streets. It wasn’t until the gold rush boom of the 1850s that the Riley Estate finally become available, and along with the Fosterville Estate, provided a glut of land for housing the working class populations.

The land on which the item is located was subdivided after the release of the Riley and Fosterville Estates, with Victorian terrace groups occupying the site until the early 20th century. Sydney City Council then undertook a slum clearance initiative, which lead to many of the terrace groups being replaced with Federation and Inter-War warehouses and commercial buildings, establishing the Wentworth Avenue manufacturing and warehousing precinct.

Berman house was built around 1928-29 as a factory. Before it was erected the site contained a number of houses owned by Edward d. Sparke and occupied by a number of different families.Berman house was built for Max Berman of Berman Brothers Ltd and was designed by Gordon Mckinnon and Sons Architects, a Sydney based architect firm.The orignal building was only 2/3 of the existing with on Commonwealth St though it took the full width on Campbell St. An addition behind the warehouse was made in 1929 under the design of Claud Hamilton, also a Sydney based architect. The addition created the second main entrance on Commonwealth St.

Original plan by Godon McKinnon is available at City of Sydney Archives file 0210-26.

Assessment of significance


SHR Criteria a) [Historical significance]	The building is an intact example of the type and form of Inter-War Warehouses constructed after the slum clearance of the Wentworth Avenue precinct by Sydney City Council in the early 20th century.
SHR Criteria c) [Aesthetic significance]	The well balanced form and intact façade detailing of the warehouse provides a strong contribution to the early 20th century commercial and manufacturing streetscape character of the conservation area. The internal structure appears to be concrete columns, timber beams and joists. It demonstrates the construciton techinque tansition from timber to concrete for industrial buildings.
SHR Criteria g) [Representativeness]	The building is an intact and fine example of a Inter-War Warehouse, displaying elements of the Chicagoesque style.
Assessment criteria:	Items are assessed against the State Heritage Register (SHR) Criteria to determine the level of significance. Refer to the Listings below for the level of statutory protection.

Recommended management:

The building should be retained and conserved. A Heritage Assessment and Heritage Impact Statement, or a Conservation Management Plan, should be prepared for the building prior to any major works being undertaken. All conservation, adaptive reuse and future development should be undertaken in accordance with the Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance (The Burra Charter). The overall form of the building is to be retained and conserved. Surfaces intended for painting should continue to be painted in the appropriate and uniform colour scheme. All significant intact fabric and detailing should be retained and conserved, including joinery, fittings and exposed sandstone surfaces. Any further development should preserve the existing form, external surfaces, materials of the building, façade proportion, and where possible remove the upper level additions along the Campbell Street frontage adjacent to the original stair.

Listings

Heritage Listing	Listing Title	Listing Number	Gazette Date	Gazette Number	Gazette Page
Local Environmental Plan	Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2012	I1485	14 Dec 12
Heritage study

References, internet links & images

Type	Author	Year	Title	Internet Links
Written	Anita Heiss		Aboriginal People and Place, Barani: Indigenous History of Sydney City	View detail

Note: internet links may be to web pages, documents or images.

(Click on thumbnail for full size image and image details)

Data source


The information for this entry comes from the following source:
Name:	Local Government
Database number:	2420546

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