Arrow Marine Building

Statement of Significance

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Description

Assessed significance: Local

Item type: Built

Current use:

Former use: Submarine cable inspection chamber

Group: Maritime Industry

Category: Other - Maritime Industry

Designer/Maker:

Builder/Maker:

Construction Years: 1919 - 0

Physical Description: Arrow Marine is a timber frame and fibre cement panel and load bearing brickwork building in Federation (Simplified) Arts and Crafts style. It has vented gables with decorative gable ends, a corrugated iron roof, solid timber doors, concrete lintels, and has a continuous banded brickwork feature. (EJE Architecture 1997)

Property Description

Address

Historic Notes and Themes

Historical notes: As early as 1839, Chownes shipyard in Jones Bay , Pyrmont was in existence. The Australian Shipping and Navigation Company (ASN Co) built a shipyard on the eastern side of Pyrmont in 1846. In 1880 the land now forming Pirrama Road and its waterfront lands, was a combination of Reserves and the ASN Co workshops. Wharves 19, 20 and 21 were completed between 1911 and 1919 and the construction of the Arrow Marine building paralleled this activity. (EJE Architecture 1997)The building was constructed as part of the Jones Bay Wharf group that is Wharves 19, 20 and 21 as a garage, labourers' office and, a Tally Clerk's Office. The earliest record of a plan to erect this building is August 1916. The Commissioners of the Sydney Harbour Trust approved the site and gave orders for the work to proceed at once on 8 August 1916. The building was designed in the Sydney Harbour Trust Drawing Office (Engineering Branch) as noted on plan number 1528 of that office. It was signed off by Engineer-in Chief Walsh. It shows a simple brick construction set parallel to the southern end of Jones Bay and at an acute angle to the road. This results in a truncated oblong shape to the building as though the eastern portion has been sliced off at an angle of almost 45 degree. The roof is constructed as a double ridge with valley gutter and twin gable ends both to the seaward and the landward sides of the building.A series of interesting photographs taken at the time show the building in its stages of construction from low foundation walls to completion with the roof on. The building was erected between October 1916 (the November 1916 photograph shows about 1 metre of wall built) and April 1917 (the March 1917 photograph shows a largely complete building with some obstructions in the main garage door openings suggesting that it was not quite ready for occupation).The 17th Annual Report of the Sydney Harbour Trust (1917) noted on page 16:Nos 19, 20 and 21 Berths, Jones' Bay - '..A motor garage to accommodate twelve large cars, waiting-room, and sanitary conveniences for foremen and men was constructed. The garage is equipped with up to date petrol storage plant and pumping installation'.Research into the limited information available about the workings of the Sydney Harbour Trust at this time has not revealed any reason for the erection of this garage. It was built during the war years when often building materials and men were in short supply. However, it should be remembered that, although often referred to as World War I, this conflict was, in realty, a European war. The condition of the nation was not threatened in the same way it was to be in the Second World War. By this time petrol driven cars and trucks had become much more common and there was clearly a perceived need for garaging and workshops. The Sydney Harbour Trust had the foresight and economic ability to accommodate this need even in time of war.There are no records of further work being done on the building until it was taken over by EricBuchanan at the end of 1987. In a letter to the Maritime Services Board he accepts the lease offered for the shed in Joans (sic) Bay Road Pyrmont, and suggests some improvements as per a sketch he has given to a Mr Garth Cubis in the architect section. He states:'We have put a new roof on the shed to make it dry. We have also replaced glass in the front window frames, and, we are fixing the rooms up to use as offices.'It would appear that the 'shed' (for which he means the building as a whole) had not been cared for in the interim period.A month later he again wrote to the MSB with the following request, which was granted:'I am carrying out repairs to the shed to make it functional for our type of work. I have asked permission to remove 2 of your 4 doors that front the road and to brick up the erea (sic) these occupy. In order to make the building look the same I would like to get bricks to match the ones in the rest of the building. Attached to my lease is an old weighbridge office in disrepair. Would the board give me permission to raize the shed, and make good the erea good (perhaps a seat for the bus stop) so I can use the bricks on the front to match the rest.'The location of the weighbridge office referred to is not known. Other later works done to the building during Buchanan's tenancy were for maintenance purposes only.The building was leased as part of the Jones Bay Wharf group (that is Wharves 19, 20 and 21) as a garage, labourers' office and, as per the plans, a Tally Clerk's Office. Plans accompanying the leases show the garage as part of the lease. The records of the leases reveal the history of occupation:Date Owners Lessees1916/1917 (Under construction) Sydney Harbour Trust. Birt & Co. Ltd and Turnbull Martin & Co. Ltd. (trading as: The Darling Island Stevedoring & Lighterage Co. Ltd)1917 - 1936 Sydney Harbour Trust, Birt & Co. Ltd and Turnbull Martin & Co. Ltd. (joined by MacDonald Hamilton & Co in 1928) (trading as: The Darling Island Stevedoring & Lighterage Co. Ltd)1936 - 1972 Maritime Services Board Birt & Co. Ltd, Turnbull Martin & Co. Ltd and MacDonald Hamilton & Co (P&O Lines of Australia Pty Ltd about 1969) (trading as: The Darling Island Stevedoring & Lighterage Co. Ltd)Lease surrendered 30 September 19721972 - 1987 Maritime Services Board Tenants unknown as the relevant file (MSB 79/181) has been destroyed1988 - 1994 Maritime Services Board Keicob Pty Ltd (trading as Buchanan's Arrow Marine Services)1994 - 1999 from 25.3.94, City West Development Corporation. Keicob Pty Ltd (trading as Buchanan's Arrow Marine Services)1999 - 2000 from 31.1.99 Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority. Keicob Pty Ltd (trading as Buchanan's Arrow Marine Services)2001 - present Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority. Jones Bay Wharf Pty LtdAs is shown the building was in continuous occupation by the Darling Island Stevedoring and Lighterage Company for 55 years. It then appears to have been unoccupied until Eric Buchanan took it over in 1987 for his Arrow Marine Service company. Buchanan's Arrow Marine Services had been located at the Balmain Power Station but were evicted when the site was sold for redevelopment in the 1980s. Buchanan died in June 2000 and the company ceased operating at the end of the same year.The building was adapted in 2001 by the Jones Bay Wharf Development Company as a promotions office. This was done under the guidance of architects Otto Cserhalmi and Partners who produced a Heritage Impact Statement for the building which declared these simple works to be unintrusive. The fitout was designed by architects Peddle Thorpe & Walker.The Sydney Harbour Trust was clearly a landlord interested in enhancing the facilities and value of its properties. It had the means and will to carry through ambitious schemes (the Wharves themselves being built by the SHT), and this garage was probably one of its smallest, but no less useful, additions to enhance the efficiency of the extensive wharfage area at Jones Bay.(DESIGN 5 - ARCHITECTS 2005)

Historical significance: A functional ancillary service building erected as part of the Jones Bay Wharf group in the early 20th century to garage cars and other motors vehicles which were becoming more common at this time.In itself it is of local significance but as part of the Jones Bay Wharf Group it has State Significance.(DESIGN 5 - ARCHITECTS, 2005)

Historical association: The building was designed in the office of Sydney Harbour Trust's Chief Engineer, H D Walsh, who was responsible for changing the face of the harbour waterfront at the time. Constructed in late 1916 and early 1917, at the same time as the adjacent Wharves 19, 20 & 21 (1911-1920), it was designed as a garage building and workman's facilities and remained in this usage until 1972 when the DarlingIsland Stevedoring and Lighterage Company Ltd surrendered the lease on Jones Bay Wharf. The garage was part of the lease. As part of the Jones Bay Wharf group, all designed by H D Walsh's office, the building is of State Significance.The building is now used by the Jones Bay Wharf Development company as a sales promotion office.The link with the Wharf is thus renewed for the present moment.(DESIGN 5 - ARCHITECTS, 2005)

Aesthetic significance: It demonstrates early 20th century designers' skills in adding aesthetic appeal to a functional building.It also has aesthetic appeal as a dockside building, providing a visual stop to the end of the basin of Jones Bay. It is of Local significance to the immediate area but of greater significance in the context of and as part of the neighbouring wharf buildings which are of State Significance.It is the only known surviving ancillary wharf structure of its type in Sydney to retain its original timber gable, typical of Sydney Harbour Trust design in the early 20th century.(DESIGN 5 - ARCHITECTS, 2005)

Social significance:

Research significance: It has some ability to demonstrate the skills and ingenuities of early 20th century designers in dealing with a constricted site and gaining maximum usage out of it. Its configuration provides clues to the location of the now removed railway lines which once served the adjacent Jones Bay Wharf. In this respect it is of Local Significance.(DESIGN 5 - ARCHITECTS, 2005)

Rare assessment: It was erected as a garage for the Jones Bay Wharf group and the survival of this building in its original form gives it a certain rarity at a local level. It is the only ancillary dockside building left in the area around Jones Bay Wharf. Its association with and location adjacent to the Jones Bay Wharf extends its rarity to a Regional and State level.(DESIGN 5 - ARCHITECTS, 2005)

Representative assessment: Demonstrates the principal design characteristics of ancillary wharf structures and how these were consistent with the grander and more prominent structures. Its survival adjacent to one of the greatest of these wharf structures provides the ability to understand this relationship in a manner not possible at most other wharves. It is representative of these characteristics at a Regional and State level.(DESIGN 5 - ARCHITECTS, 2005)

Intact assessment:

Physical condition:

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