| Braybrook | $754,000  |
| Kingsville | $1,172,500  |
| Sunshine | $882,100 |
| West Footscray | $934,700 |
| Yarraville | $1,175,700  |
| Neighbour Photos |
| Map | Street view | Nearby property price |
| Planning History: |
| Registered as Victorian heritage |
| The McPhersons factory complex in Sunshine Road, Sunshine, originally comprised two factories that were erected in 1939-40 for two subsidiary companies associated with McPhersons, the prominent hardware and machinery enterprise founded by Thomas McPherson in 1860. The first factory, built for the Wiltshire File Company (1938-39), was a utilitarian sawtooth-roofed building clad in cement sheeting, with an elongated facade to Sunshine Road, enlivened with horizontal mouldings. The second factory, for the Ajax Pumps Company (1939-40) was more architectural considered, with red brick facades in the streamlined Moderne style that incorporated a curved bay and clock tower, typical of the idiom. Both buildings were designed by noted Moderne architect Stuart Calder in association with Reid & Pearson, who enjoyed a long and fruitful association with the various branches of McPherson's company. How is it significant? The complex is of aesthetic, architectural and historical significance to the City of Maribyrnong. Why is it significant? Historically, the factory complex is significant for its associations with this important and long-running Australian company, and, more specifically, with the expansion of its manufacturing activities in the 1930s - a significant initiative of then director William Edward McPherson, who anticipated the start of the War and consequently sought to develop Australia's self-sufficiency by making tools and equipment that had been previously imported. More broadly, the factory complex provides evidence of the industrial development of the western suburbs - a strong and recurring theme in that area since the late nineteenth century. The factory demonstrates, in particular, the intense industrial boom of the inter-war period that saw numerous factories erected in Sunshine and environs (and, indeed, along this part of Sunshine Road) Aesthetically, the Ajax factory is significant as a fine example of the streamlined Modertne style as applied to an industrial complex. Although the building has been altered, and subject to vandalism and neglect, it nevertheless demonstrates much of the typical progressive character of a late 1930s factory, most notably by the its horizontal composition, its use of face bricks with rendered trim, and its curved entrance bay and squat tower with ubiquitous numberless clock. Architecturally, the McPhersons factory complex is significant for its associations with architect Stuart Calder, a progressive designer who was one of the leading exponents of the Moderne style in Melbourne in the 1930s. Even in its currently poor condition, the Ajax Pumps building - with its streamlined form, curved bay and clock tower - can be considered as one of Calder's most distinguished and published projects, along with the McPherson's head office in Collins Street |
| 07 May 2012 |
| Four lot subdivision and to removal of lots 15-18 from Owners Corporation |
| (Source: Maribyrnong City Council (SPEAR), reference no: TP183/2012 Sub) |
| 25 Aug 2012 |
| Four lot subdivision and to removal of lots 15-18 from Owners Corporation |
| (Source: Streamlined Planning through Electronic Applications and Referra, reference no: S023103P) |
| 22 Apr 2016 |
| Subdivision of the common property and consolidation of part of the common property with Lots 11, 1 more... |
| (Source: , reference no: ) |
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