Phoenix Central Park facts for kids

Phoenix Central Park is a special place in Chippendale, Australia. It's a private building that hosts amazing performances and shows off cool art. This unique venue was finished in early 2020. It is located in an old, important part of Chippendale, known for its history.

A Look Back: The Story of the Land

How Chippendale Began

Between 1788 and 1824, the area south of Sydney town was mostly farmland. Farmers used water from Blackwattle Swamp Creek. People also made bricks and tiles from the local clay.

In 1815, a man named William Chippendale was given land here. Later, in 1825, Governor Brisbane gave land to Robert Cooper. Cooper was a former convict who became a successful businessman. He built a distillery there.

The southern part of Cooper's land was used for grazing animals until the 1840s. Then, Cooper built homes for workers. These were over fifty small houses called Cooper’s Row. This row of houses helped create the street layout we know today as O'Connor Street.

Homes Through the Years

The first houses on Cooper's Row were made of timber and shingles. They had only two rooms and were not very strong. The newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald, even joked in 1851 that tenants might wake up with the roof on top of them!

These houses were torn down in the 1850s. A new English businessman, Clark Irving, bought the land. He and a carpenter named Peter Royal built "fourteen cottages and one public house." They named the houses Adelaide Terrace after Irving's wife.

By 1861, these homes were two-storey brick buildings with slate roofs. They had four rooms, and soon a fifth room, likely a kitchen, was added. People living there included a ladies' school, a lawyer, and a bricklayer.

In 1873, a famous gold miner and politician named Bernhard Holtermann bought the houses. He renamed them Holtermann’s Terrace. These homes had nice verandas and French windows. In 1876, they were described as "repaired, painted, decorated and made equal to new."

By 1881, the terrace became 37-49 O’Connor Street. The street was named after Daniel O’Connor, a city leader. Later, a company called Tooth & Co. Ltd bought the homes. By 1920, the slate roofs had been changed to corrugated iron.

From Shoes to Shows: The War Years and Beyond

In 1938, John Henry McEvoy, a boot maker, bought the terrace. He owned Fostar’s Shoe Factory, which started in 1929. Fostar's was said to be the biggest shoe maker in Australia! They even used their own airplane to deliver shoes across the country.

During World War II, Fostar's got a government contract to make army boots. Because of the war, the factory had to build a special air raid shelter. This shelter could protect Fostar's 800 employees if there was an air raid. The old houses were taken down, and a new building was built in 1942. It had a collection area and a canteen on the ground floor. The basement was the large air raid shelter.

Even after some legal issues and McEvoy's death in 1945, the company kept doing well into the 1950s. In 1968, a company called HM Property Development Co. Pty Ltd bought the building. After some changes, it became home to a martial arts academy, a dance studio, and a gym. Sadly, in 2013, the building was badly damaged by a fire.

Today, this historic site has been transformed into Phoenix Central Park, a place for art and performances.