Austral Motors Building facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Austral Motors Building
Austral Motors Building, 2012
Location	95 Boundary Street, Fortitude Valley, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Design period	1919–1930s (interwar period)
Built	1923–25
Architect	Lange Leopold Powell, George Gerald Hutton
Queensland Heritage Register
Official name: Austral Motors Building (former)
Type	state heritage (built)
Designated	11 April 2005
Reference no.	602505
Significant period	1920s (fabric) 1923–86 (historical use)
Significant components	workshop, showroom
Builders	Blair Cunningham
Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).

The Austral Motors Building is a historic building in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Australia. It was once a car showroom and workshop. This building was designed by Lange Leopold Powell and George Gerald Hutton. It was built between 1923 and 1925 by Blair Cunningham. Today, it is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register because of its important history.

A Look Back: The Building's Story

The Austral Motors Building stands at the end of Upper Adelaide Street in Brisbane. It was built for the Austral Motors Company between 1924 and 1926. This area, called Petrie Bight, became a key place for warehouses and car businesses in the 1900s.

Petrie Bight: From Past to Present

Petrie Bight is a bend in the Brisbane River. It got its name from Andrew Petrie, an early Brisbane builder. He set up his workshop and home here around 1838. Maps from the 1840s and 1850s showed this area as a "Reserved for Dry Dock," but no dry dock was ever built.

In 1864, the Brisbane Gas Company got land here for Brisbane's first gas works. They started making gas in 1865 to light the city streets. By the 1870s, more gas was needed for homes. The gas works site was fenced off, and a narrow path with turnstiles allowed people to walk through.

River Wharves and City Growth

In the 1840s, most of Brisbane's wharves were further along the river. But soon, more wharves were built closer to the city center. In 1849, Brisbane's first special Customs House was built at Petrie Bight. This helped the area grow with more wharves and warehouses.

The government built Kennedy Wharf at Petrie Bight in the 1870s. The Brisbane Municipal Council later took over this wharf and made it bigger. They also built another wharf at the end of Boundary Street. By the early 1900s, the Council controlled much of the riverfront here. They built modern concrete wharves between 1913 and 1916. These were called Circular Quay Wharves.

Other companies also built wharves nearby. These wharves were very important for shipping goods into Brisbane. Some of these wharves were later taken over by the government to build the Story Bridge.

Adelaide Street: A Wider Path

In the early 1900s, Brisbane City Council improved the roads leading to Petrie Bight. This helped new warehouses get built in the Upper Adelaide Street area. The Council had plans to make the city more beautiful and improve streets.

From 1923 to 1928, the Council made Adelaide Street 14 feet wider along its whole length. This was a huge project. Some buildings had their front parts removed and new fronts added. Other older buildings were knocked down, and big new ones were built. At the northern end of Adelaide Street, a hill was cut down in 1928. This made it easier to get to Petrie Bight. The area became a busy warehousing district, especially with the new city wharves nearby.

Queensland had a strong economy in the 1920s after World War I. This led to a lot of building activity in Brisbane. The city center changed a lot, with many new commercial buildings. Property prices in the main shopping street, Queen Street, became very high. This made investors look for places like Petrie Bight. Building materials also became cheaper, and concrete was used more often.

Between 1923 and 1925, about 50 new commercial buildings were built in Brisbane each year. In 1925, the value of building projects was around £3,000,000. The Greater Brisbane City Council kept track of all new building approvals. Building work peaked in 1926.

The Rise of the Motor Car

In the 1910s, cars started to change how people traveled and moved goods. In Brisbane, businesses that worked with horses began to switch to cars. For example, carriage builders became car repair shops or dealers. Stables became parking garages.

The Austral Carriage Works, which started around 1907, soon entered the car business. Austral Motors Limited became the main seller in Queensland for Dodge Brothers cars and trucks from America. They were very successful. By 1924, they had two locations.

Queenslanders loved cars. In 1923-24, Queensland had the third-highest number of car registrations in Australia. Brisbane newspapers were full of car advertisements. The number of car engineers, dealers, and garages in Brisbane grew a lot. From 89 in 1920-21, it jumped to 134 in 1924-25. More shops selling car parts and tires also opened.

By 1925, the Brisbane City Council was worried about finding enough parking for cars. Special parking stations started to appear in the city center. Architects in Australia looked at designs from the United States for buildings that could hold cars.

In 1923, Austral Motors Limited hired architects Lange Leopold Powell and George Gerald Hutton. They were to design a showroom and service station at Petrie Bight. The land for the building was divided in April 1923. A new road, Dodge Lane, was named after the firm's Dodge car agency. Construction started in August 1923. The first part of the building was finished in March 1924. It cost about £9,300. Austral Motors Limited moved in on April 1, 1924.

The building had two floors. Both floors had street access because the land sloped. The ground floor on Boundary Street was the car showroom. The upper floor, accessed from Dodge Lane, was the Dodge Brothers Service Station.

In 1925, the company made the building much bigger. The location was perfect for a car business. It was close to the main wharves. Other car businesses were also in the area. Many buildings in Upper Adelaide Street were used by companies connected to the car trade. This included tire sales, auto electricians, and spare parts suppliers.

Austral Motors grew quickly in the late 1920s. By 1929, the company had several locations. In 1986, Austral Motors sold the building to the Sisters of Mercy. They own the nearby All Hallows girls' school. The building is still used for parking today, including for school staff.

What the Building Looks Like

The former Austral Motors Building is a two-storey building made of red brick. It sits on a ridge at the northern end of Adelaide Street. The building faces Boundary Street.

Large display windows on the Boundary Street side show off the showroom. Some of these windows are now covered. The building also has many windows that let light into the showroom and workshop areas. The front of the building has a decorative white cement panel at the top. This panel hides the double gable roof, which is covered with corrugated metal.

A long awning sticks out over the footpath on Boundary Street. It protects the showroom windows. Two large roller doors allow cars to drive into the showrooms from Boundary Street. The main entrance for people is currently covered up.

The ground floor has two large showrooms with high ceilings. The ceilings are covered with panels and timber strips. Steel posts and beams support the ceiling. The showroom on the west side has a red-brown floor, probably to make the cars look good. This area has two steel trusses that support the concrete floor above. There are also stairs to the upper floor, but they are not used anymore.

Windows on the south, east, and west sides light up the upper floor. This floor was the workshop area. It has two large entrances on each side. Part of the floor is concrete, and the rest is timber. One entrance has large timber sliding doors. This level also has offices, toilets, and a counter near the back entrance. The back entrance opens to a yard that can be reached from Antrim Street and Dodge Lane. A lean-to roof sticks out from the north end of the building.

The Dodge Lane side of the building is also made of red brick. It has many timber-framed windows on both floors. A solid timber sliding door in the middle leads to the showroom level. It also provides access to the timber stairs to the upper floor.

Why It's a Heritage Site

The former Austral Motors Building was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on April 11, 2005. This means it is an important part of Queensland's history and culture.

• Shows How Queensland Changed: This building was built between 1923 and 1925 as a car showroom and service center. It shows how much Brisbane changed in the 1920s. During this time, roads were made wider, and cars became very popular. Many new brick and concrete buildings were built, especially for cars, like parking garages and showrooms. The Petrie Bight area became an important place for warehouses. The Brisbane City Council helped this growth by building better roads and new wharves. The building shows how important the car trade became in Queensland. Many businesses in the area were connected to cars, like selling, repairing, or providing parts.

• A Rare and Intact Example: The Austral Motors Building is special because it is an early and very well-preserved car showroom and service station from the mid-1920s. It's uncommon to find such a complete example from that time.

• Shows Key Features of Car Showrooms: This building is still very much like it was when it was built. It shows what a large, modern car showroom of the 1920s looked like. Its big showrooms and garage area clearly show its purpose for selling and servicing cars. It also shows the work of important Brisbane architects, Lange Powell and George Hutton, from that time.

See Also

• List of heritage-listed buildings in Brisbane