Addresses
Type of place
Factory
Period
Interwar 1919-1939
Style
Free Style
This is an image of the local heritage place known as Whatmore McIntosh Motors (former)
Whatmore McIntosh Motors (former)
Addresses
Type of place
Factory
Period
Interwar 1919-1939
Style
Free Style
This industrial building was constructed circa 1933 for Whatmore McIntosh Motors, who had been running a successful business from Adelaide Street since the 1920s. Its construction resulted in the demolition of a number of houses on the adjacent Helen Street, which had been predominantly residential prior to the industrial development of the area in the 1930s. The new building operated as a vehicle assembly plant, works and service station and was necessary in order for the company to adapt to and implement new technologies associated with the rapidly developing motor vehicle industry. Whatmore McIntosh Motors remained in the building until 1943 when it was purchased by Queensland Primary Producers. It has since been in use primarily as a storehouse.
Lot plan
L49_RP9317; L64_RP9317
Key dates
Local Heritage Place Since —
Date of Citation —
Construction
Roof: Corrugated iron;Walls: Face brick
Criterion for listing
(A) Historical; (B) Rarity; (D) Representative; (E) Aesthetic; (F) TechnicalInteractive mapping
Lot plan
L49_RP9317; L64_RP9317
Key dates
Local Heritage Place Since —
Date of Citation —
Construction
Roof: Corrugated iron;Walls: Face brick
Criterion for listing
(A) Historical; (B) Rarity; (D) Representative; (E) Aesthetic; (F) TechnicalInteractive mapping
History
Despite the Depression, the motor vehicles continued to grow in popularity in the 1930s. As car ownership increased the motor car began to change the form of cities. The ease of mobility that the car brought about prompted the spread of settlement into the suburbs. A proliferation of facilities designed to cater for the motor car was evident; vast new roads were built and motor assembly plants, petrol stations and garages were needed.
The two allotments – one facing Helen Street, the other facing Commercial Road – on which this former motor garage was built, were once occupied by houses. Helen Street was predominantly residential in nature prior to the 1930s when industrial developments began to encroach on the area. The Willoughby Trust purchased the houses in 1927. The following year George Willoughby Whatmore Junior, who was involved in the Willoughby Trust, purchased the hide and skin store adjacent to this site.
The Trust continued to let the houses until the mid 1930s when they had a motor workshop for Whatmore McIntosh Motors constructed on the site. Whatmore McIntosh Motors was probably a subsidiary of the Willoughby Trust. It had operated from its main office in Adelaide Street since the 1920s and in the 1930s when this workshop was built the company also operated a used car yard at Ann Street, Fortitude Valley. The workshop was first mentioned in the Post Office Directories in 1934, indicating that it had been completed the previous year. It was purpose designed to meet the changing technology associated with the rapidly growing motor industry in the 1930s, being a vehicle assembly plant, works and service station.
An article along with an advertisement in The Steering Wheel of 1 August 1932 announced the taking over of Whatmore McIntosh Motors by McIntosh Motors Ltd. An indication of the size and position of the firm within Brisbane is disclosed in the following details. The firm handled the franchises for Austin, Hudson and Essex cars, and Case Tractors “…in Queensland and the Northern Rivers”. There is also evidence to suggest that McIntosh Motors acted as the State distributor for the above agencies.
In 1938 McIntosh Motors Pty Ltd took out a five year lease on the property. On termination of the lease in 1943 the property was sold to Queensland Primary Producers Co-operative, which had purchased the adjacent hide and skin store in 1941. The building is currently being used as a storage warehouse for Paddy’s Markets.
Description
Externally red brick facades to both street frontages display English bond coursing (alternate courses of stretcher and header). These facades are carefully composed with an energetic 1930s character. A rendered central section of the parapet has the firm’s name emblazoned across it in raised scrolled lettering. The pair of vehicular entrances in each elevation is grouped vertically with panels of what were originally glass louvres over them, capped with half circular arches and decorative keystones. The rainwater head and drainpipe on each façade’s centre line is proudly expressed.
Internally a central row of columns supports a mezzanine floor on the southern side of the building. The Commercial Road end of the building is roofed with pairs of timber trusses with a central box gutter, while the Helen Street end of the building has a saw tooth roof supported on timber beams running from side to side. The former roof is supported with adzed circular timber columns, full height, the latter by square dressed timber columns joined at the mid point and held together with steel cages.
The party wall to 130 Commercial Road is concrete block, the other walls are painted brick with engaged piers supporting a concrete beam at their top. As there is evidence of lateral beams each side of the central columns it is possible that a pair of gantry cranes once traversed the building.
The floor is concrete and there is evidence that steel framed windows with wired glass was the original fenestration.
Statement of significance
Relevant assessment criteria
This is a place of local heritage significance and meets one or more of the local heritage criteria under the Heritage planning scheme policy of the Brisbane City Plan 2014. It is significant because:
References
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Titles Office Records
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Post Office Directories.
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The Steering Wheel
Citation prepared by — Brisbane City Council (page revised September 2020)