The image below, looking at the site from the west shows the ways in which the Redfern North Eveleigh Paint Shop Precinct master plan impacts two important heritage buildings, the Paint Shop (1888) & The Paint Shop Extension / Suburban Car workshops (1912).
The image
shows both the proposed building through the Paint Shop (which under
the proposal can be anywhere over the building) as well as the
replacement of part of the Paint Shop extension by a building onto
Wilson Street and a battle-axe representation of the heritage Former
Suburban Car Workshops building.
When the Redfern Waterloo Authority (RWA) established their controls for the site it only recognised the heritage value of the Paint Shop and not the Extension. The current planning proposal is to adopt the RWA heritage buildings map. As a result no heritage protection is provided to the extension and even on the heritage list you can see the potential impact on the Paint Shop.
In this section of the site we have provided the details on the heritage significance of both buildings as set out in the Heritage Interpretation Strategy so readers have easy access to this information for these two heritage buildings that are significantly impacted by the planning proposal.
3.5.4 Paint Shop (c1888)
The Paint Shop is of considerable historical significance as
a key element in the function of the NSW railway network during the 19th and 20th
century. The Paint Shop contributed to the function, growth and development of the
railway service by providing services for painting of carriages and wagons. The
Paint Shop is associated with Mr. John Whitton, the Chief Engineer of NSW Railways,
and Mr. W Scott, Locomotive Engineer, who requested the Paint Shop to be
constructed due to the increased accommodation of carriages at the Sydney
terminal which caused overcrowding and therefore an increased demand in
carriages.
The structure and form of the Paint Shop was specifically
designed to establish controlled conditions for the painting of carriages and
wagons, such as skylights designed to offer plenty of diffused southern light
and installed louvres at the sawtooth apexes for increased ventilation. In an
attempt to control the high temperatures, which ensure high quality paintwork
and vanish work was achieved, steam pipework was installed below the Paint Shop
floor in c.1890, which was at the time a highly advanced technology and rare in
Australia. The construction of the northern Paint Shop extension in 1912 demonstrates
the increasing demand at Eveleigh for clean, dust free conditions when painting
carriages.
The Paint Shop is of aesthetic significance being one of the
finest examples of industrial buildings at Eveleigh and in Australia, known for
its size, scale, industrial form and character. The building is detailed with
the use of fine masonry, polychromed brickwork and sandstone trims, delicate
skylights, wellarticulated fenestration with recessed panels, and multi-paned
curved topped cast iron windows. The exterior details the extreme care in the
design of facades which were in the public eye. The interior of the Paint Shop
includes robust cast iron columns, support light and tracerylike wrought iron
trusses which support the large, glazed skylights.
The preservation of the interior of this structure is one of
the best in industrial complexes from the late 19th century in Australia.
The Paint Shop is socially significant to railway employees
of the past and present, employing many workers in the late 19th and 20th
century. This included women who worked in the Paint Shop at least from the
1900 engaged in upholstering work with cloth and leather for carriage interiors
and cushions.
The Paint Shop is rare in NSW, especially associated with
the Eveleigh Railway Workshops, as a relatively intact workshop which was a key
element in the function of the ERW. The continued used of the Paint Shop for
over a century testifies to the construction and design of the building.
The Paint Shop is representative of a Victoria era railway
workshop and is significant as one of the best surviving examples of a large
workshop used for the painting of carriages and wagons, repairs and
installation of the interior elements of the carriages in Australia. The
structure includes very early surviving heritage fabric such as the original
1880s roller door mechanisms, hardwood timber blocked floors, early water, gas,
electrical and air lines, original cast iron windows and hardware.
Source: Heritage
Interpretation Strategy (HIS) Redfern North Eveleigh – Paint Shop Sub-Precinct by Curio Projects Page 45 & 46 – REDWatch has extracted the Heritage Significance section of the HIS for easy access to information on all the sites heritage buildings and sites at Heritage Significance of Paint Shop Precinct Buildings.
The image below is taken looking west at the proposed redevelopment of the Paint Shop and The Paint Shop extension. It is a still extracted from the fly through. It shows the building built through and over the Paint Shop and the fat end of the battle-axe public space where the Paint Shop Extension / Former Suburban Car workshops (1912) currently stands. Below the image is the Heritage Significance statement from the HIS for The Paint Shop Extension.
3.5.5 Paint Shop Extension / Former Suburban Car workshops
(1912)
The construction of the northern Paint Shop
Extension/Suburban Car Workshops in 1912 is intrinsically linked to the
original Paint Shop building and they share the same themes in terms of being
historically and socially significant for comparable reasons.
While not constructed to the same architectural standard and
level of fine detail as the original Paint Shop, this building was integral to
the continued operation of the Eveleigh Railway site into the 20th century and
its construction demonstrates the increasing demand at Eveleigh for clean, dust
free conditions when painting carriages. The Paint Shop Extension is important
in what it represents and demonstrates about the expansion and development of
the Eveleigh Railway Yards into the 20th century, and in the
evolution of the form and technology of rolling stock as a whole, with the
building intentionally built to accommodate newer wider bodied cars that the
original Paint Shop was constructed to house.
Like its 1888 counterpart, the Paint Shop Extension is also
rare in NSW as a key element of the function of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops.
The Paint Shop Extension was technologically advanced for its time, probably
the first true modern factory building constructed at Eveleigh—the first use of
full steel framed construction at the ERW using “Dorman Long & Co
Middlesborough England” steel sections—and represented a shift in architecture
and engineering in Eveleigh buildings from the fine detailed masonry and heavy
cast iron columns of late 19th century, towards more modern
buildings using lighter steel supported columns and standard angled trusses.
Source: Heritage Interpretation Strategy (HIS) Redfern North Eveleigh – Paint Shop Sub-Precinct by Curio Projects Page 47 – REDWatch has extracted the Heritage Significance section of the HIS for easy access to information on all the sites heritage buildings and sites at Heritage Significance of Paint Shop Precinct Buildings