SITE OF FORMER HUTTON BUILDING & HARRIS SCARFE & CO

Statement of Significance

Site of former commercial buildings, Hutton Building and Harris Scarfe & Co, is significant as evidence of the place being a commercial site since the early twentieth century. It represents the expansion of Fremantle in the gold boom period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the changing needs of the community and commerce in the Fremantle area.

Physical Description

DEMOLISHED

History

A c.1870s plan shows only one small building, most likely a cottage, along the east side of Newman Street. An 1897 plan shows the Hutton Building has been erected by this time, along with smaller buildings alongside it to the south. A December 1910 plan shows the street significantly built in. A large building now fills the corner of Newman and Queen Streets, with a small alley separating it from the Hutton Building. A large building has also been constructed on the northeast corner of William and Newman Streets, with a long narrow building adjacent to it to the north, leaving only one small block vacant along this side of the street. Although plans show lot 536, the large lot at the corner of Newman and Queen Streets, was empty until at least 1902, rate books indicate that an iron warehouse was on the lot from 1897, the year after the site was purchased by Harris Scarfe and Co. This listing remains unchanged until 1904, when it becomes ‘office and warehouse’. The entry is crossed out and rewritten in 1904-05, suggesting the building may have changed at this time, possibly becoming the brick building evident in maps and plans, although the new entry continues to say ‘galvanised iron warehouse’. From 1908-09 the listing becomes ‘office, warehouse and stables, and this remains into the 1920s, when the stables are removed from the listing. The place is not listed as a shop until at least the late 1940s, with the 1951-52 listing being ‘Shop & Warehouse’. From 1923 the company name is shown as Harris Scarfe Sandover & Co, which from the 1930s is Harris Scarfe & Sandover Ltd. Rate books show the adjacent lot 537 is vacant to 1884, and then has a cottage only until 1890. James Albert Herbert, hotelkeeper, who also owns the vacant lot 536 at this time, owns the place and is occupant in 1888-89. In 1890, the lot is purchased by Hugh Dixson of Dickson and Sons, tobacco manufacturers, and from 1891 a tobacco works is listed on site in front of the cottage. From 1894 the company is named Robert Dixson & Co, and in 1897 the listing changes to a warehouse, office, bonded store and five-room cottage. Dixson continues to own the premises, but by at least 1904 the offices and warehouse are occupied by Kitchen & Co, soap manufacturers. It appears that for some years not all the buildings on the site were occupied, in particular the three-storey warehouse. From 1905, Kronheimer Ltd, who from 1906 are identified as tobacco manufacturers, are noted as an occupant alongside Kitchen & Co. In 1908-09, J.C. Hutton Pty Ltd purchases the lot, and occupies the two warehouses, while Kronheimer continues to occupy the bonded and free stores. By 1910, one of the warehouses is occupied by William Henry John (W.H.J.) Hardie, while Huttons occupies the remainder of the buildings. This continues until 1929, when Hardie ceases to be a tenant. Huttons also appear to have vacated the premises around this time, although they retain ownership into the 1930s. From the 1940s into the 1950s the place is owned and occupied by Swan Sea Cycle and Motor Co, managed by Howard Baldwin and later Leslie Baldwin. The residence at the rear continues to be listed into the 1940s, although it does not always appear to have been occupied. A c.1910s photograph shows the commercial buildings along the east side of Newman Street. There are no awnings or verandahs to the building along the northern half of the block on the east side of the street. At the north end the large single-storey Harris Scarfe building fills the block along Queen Street and through at least half-way to Henderson Street. It has three long hipped roofs running east-west parallel to Queen Street, hidden on all sides by a parapet wall with simple detailing. The central roof section is higher than the others, and corresponds with high gabled pediment which marks the entrance in the centre of the Newman Street elevation. The words ‘Geo. P. Harris Scarfe & Co Limited’ are written across the top of the building along the length of the Newman Street elevation. The Newman Street elevation comprises five bays, the central of which is a recessed entrance. The other four bays are brick, with high windows. Adjacent to Harris Scarfe, south along Newman Street, is a three-storey masonry commercial building. Although the picture is unclear, it appears to be stone with brick quoining. The lettering in the façade is unclear, but the caption identifies this as the Hutton Building. A low-pitched roof is hidden behind a simple parapet wall, with a decorative pediment feature in the centre. Each floor has five sash windows across the front elevation, with the exception of the ground floor where the central position is a doorway instead of a window. The next building is a two-storey masonry commercial building with W.H.J. Hardie written into its front elevation. The photograph is unclear but the building appears to be stone. A skillion roof slopes away from the road and there is a low parapet wall hiding the roof at the front. The first floor level has four arched sash windows across its front elevation. The ground floor is obscured in the photograph. Further south along Newman Street the photograph becomes unclear. A two-storey masonry building follows, with a hipped roof and simple detailing. These buildings together fill what would be lots 536 and 537. A December 1916 plan mirrors the photograph described above. All the buildings along Newman Street are noted as brick construction. Both the third (W.J. Hardie) and fifth buildings from the Queen Street end have a passage through to the rear, where a collection of brick and galvanised iron buildings are sited in the rear yards, along with a brick residence in the southeast corner of the lot. This passage is shown on some earlier plans as an alleyway and others as part of the buildings, meaning building footprints do not match from year to year. The plan appears to show the W.J. Hardie building as attached to and numbered together with the building on its south side. Plans were approved in 1946 for an extension to the Harris Scarfe building. The Hutton buildings on Lot 537 were demolished in 1967. Undated photographs of the demolition show corrugated iron sheeting removed from timber-framed roofs, timber floors, and multi-paned windows in the face-brick elevations to the rear yard. The former Harris Scarfe building was demolished in 1971. At the time it is identified as the Sandover Building. The Myers Building, also Boans for a period in the 1980s, was opened at the site in 1972. Photographs from c.1974-75 show Newman Street as a wide two-lane one-way through road. On the east side of the street a multistorey Myers building fills half the block, and the remainder is a single-storey Woolworths grocery store. On the west side of the street, the north end is a carpark and the south end is taken up with the multistorey council offices and library building. Photographs from 1983 show the northern end of Newman Street being a carpark outside Myers at the Queen Street end, and a children’s playground built across what was formerly a through-street. The carpark on the west side of the street has become a park and paved mall area. The grocery store is now occupied by Coles New World. Photographs show the transport of a ’39 year old’ palm tree from a residence in Mosman Park to the ‘southern end’ of Newman Street in 1984, to feature in the Newman Court Mall. Photographs from October 1988 show the construction of the four commercial and office buildings at the eastern corner of William and Newman Streets. At this time a roadway still traverses approximately half the length of the former Newman Street, becoming a carpark at its northern end (near the centre of the block). Photographs from July 1990 show the street dug up for the creation of a mall. In 2013 the Myer store was closed. In 2019 the building was substantially remodeled (including new facades and an extra floor) as a mixed use commercial and office building. This heritage listing was reviewed in 2019 as part of the annual update of the City of Fremantle Heritage List and Local Heritage Survey. At this time it was removed from the heritage list. The place was retained on the Local Heritage Survey but the management category was changed from Archaeological site to Historic Record Only to reflect recent changes to the property.

Uses

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