Moon's Buildings (former)

Denis Fouhy purchased the site containing 43 Adelaide Street on 4 September 1893 and it was during Fouhy’s ownership that the former Moon’s Building was constructed.  Fouhy was a senior Catholic priest, Queensland Archbishop Robert Dunne’s secretary and cathedral administrator. 

Around 1900, a contract for the design for a new building to be erected at 43 Adelaide Street was awarded to the architectural firm of Addison & Corrie. George Henry Addison and Leslie Gordon Corrie operated as independent architects until 1898, when they joined together in partnership to form Addison & Corrie. They designed a three-storey, triple gabled, brick, commercial building, with rear loading bay accesses included on the top floor. George Addison and Leslie Corrie dissolved their partnership in 1905 and the Moon’s Building is the only remaining example of the buildings they designed for the CBD. The firm of Thomas Rees & Son constructed the building, completing it by 1900.

By 1903, the building was referred to as ‘Moon’s Buildings’, after one of the first tenants, Alfred Moon.1 The term ‘buildings’ referred to the multiple shop and office spaces that were to part of the design. Moon had operated a general merchandise shop from a building in Edward Street since 1897 prior to moving to 43 Adelaide Street. Moon sold a variety of items including tea, wine, spirits, rolled oats, oatmeal, mustard, starch, jam and cocoa. He was also the agent and supplier for the South Australian Brewing Company.  Moon’s business was prominently advertised on one side of the building.

The relocation of Moon’s retail business to the new building marked the beginning of the spread of general retail shopping into this part of Adelaide Street. By the 1890s, promenading the streets of Brisbane’s shopping areas had become a popular form of evening entertainment for the general public, who “walked back and forth, chatting together and window shopping; a few were attracted into the shops”.1 Moon’s decision to move to Adelaide Street may have been influenced by these “promenaders” who were strolling along the thoroughfares surrounding Queen Street.  Other retailers soon followed Moon’s lead.  In 1909, Finney & Isles built their new “The Big Block” department store in the section of Adelaide Street between Albert and Edward Streets. Allan & Stark drapers opened a retail store next to the Moons’ Building in 1917. 

Along with Moon, the first tenants were A.D. Graham (solicitor), the office of the Queensland Law Journal, and the office of the publisher of Pugh’s Almanac. The following year, another journal, the Queensland Mines & Works Gazette also rented office space in the upper floors and Powell & Co printers took a shop in the building. Indeed, the building’s links with the publishing industry continued for nearly three decades. Slater’s Almanac had offices there in 1903. The famous Queensland writer, Arthur Hoey Davis (of Dad and Dave fame) ran his Steele Rudd Magazine from the Moon’s Building from 1904-07. The Silverwood Gazette leased space in the building in 1907. In 1915, Queensland Newspaper Ltd leased the entire ground floor shop space as offices for its newspaper, The Sun. While some of these publishing enterprises lasted only a few years in the building, both Pugh’s Almanac and Slater’s Almanac operated from there for over twenty years. The Sun newspaper office remained at the Moon’s Building until 1928.  

Tenants were not restricted to the publishing industry. Among the eclectic collection of businesses present during the building’s early years were: Verney & Sons tin and bottle makers, Queensland Rifle Association, Moreton District Rifle Club, Brisbane Association of Spiritualists, Queensland Theosophical Society, Queensland Adult Deaf and Dumb Mission, Queensland Imperial Boy Scouts, Brisbane International Congress of School Students Association and the Hellenic Association. In 1914, Alfred Moon ceased trading from his ground floor shop though he maintained his business office on the first floor of his building until 1921. The building was still referred to as ‘Moon’s Buildings’ in the Queensland Post Office Directory until 1936.

 

Adelaide Street and, in particular, the block opposite the Moon’s Building, underwent dramatic changes during the 1920s. Increasing automobile traffic in the CBD, combined with a substantial city improvement scheme instigated by the Brisbane Municipal Council (later the Brisbane City Council) led to Adelaide Street being widened by 14 feet along its western side. Work commenced on this project in 1923 and by the next year, the Council was negotiating with the Queensland government and furniture manufacturer Tritton Ltd to have Adelaide Street extended through their land so that it reached North Quay. In 1930, the new Brisbane City Hall opened and although it overshadowed Moon’s Building and its neighbours, it also drew more customers to this part of the CBD. These significant changes contributed to a greater profile for retail establishments located in Adelaide Street.       

In 1925, the two companies that would have the longest association with the Moon’s Building took up office space on the site. Cannon & Cripps, a firm of undertakers that had commenced in 1886, established their main office in the Moon’s Building’s first floor. Cannon & Cripps had subsidiary offices at Stanley Street, South Brisbane and Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley and the company ran a coffin-making factory in Grenier Street, Fortitude Valley. The merchant J.B. Chandler & Co (later to be known as Chandlers), also set up shop on the second floor of the building. John Beal Chandler had started his merchant business at an Elizabeth Street store in 1919.    

In 1926, both Cannon & Cripps and Chandler & Co moved to the ground floor, which they shared with The Sun newspaper office for the next two years. After The Sun newspaper vacated the premises in 1928, the ground floor space was converted into a number of smaller offices, which were leased to a variety of tenants. Chandlers began to take ownership of the property, when, on 16 December 1930, Lydia Isabel Chandler, wife of John Beal Chandler, gained the title deeds to half of the site. Lydia Chandler and her business partner Norman Joseph Neilson purchased the remainder of the site on 17 June 1935.

In 1931, John B. Chandler established the Radio 4BC studios and Chandler’s Radio Service office on the second floor of the Moon’s Building. 4BC was Brisbane’s first commercial radio station and it continued to operate from the Moon’s Building until the 1950s. In 1932, Chandler & Co became the first speciality supplier of electrical appliances and radios in Queensland and its first electrical store was in the Moon’s Building. Cannon & Cripps maintained its association with the building through to 1969 when the company closed all of its offices and relocated to new premises at Kelvin Grove. Chandlers remained at 43 Adelaide Street until 1989. 

 

Like most retail premises within the CBD, the Moon’s Building has undergone a number of internal changes over the years to accommodate the requirements of its different commercial tenants. The ground floor, in particular, has undergone a series of alterations in 1954, 1956, 1969, 1973, 1974 and 1981. The rear of the building has also been altered through additions to the building’s loading and delivery facilities. The open rear parking area off Burnett Lane shown in the 1951 Fire Maps was infilled during Chandlers’ ownership of the building. In 1954, a loading platform was added to the rear area and this was followed ten years later by the extension of the cartage dock.       

This building is featured in The Allan and Stark Heritage Walk that was produced by the National Trust of Queensland in 1986. The Brisbane History Group identified the Moon’s Building as a part of Brisbane’s commercial heritage in 2002, when they included it in their publication Walking Tours – Brisbane’s Commercial Heritage 1900-1940. The former Moon’s Building is the only surviving example of a triple gabled, brick commercial building left in Brisbane. A number of fixtures from the tenancy of Cannon & Cripps, which can be seen on the first floor, are also of interest.

The parapeted gables hide three gable roofs that continue with the same form at the rear. These parapets and the ground floor have arch windows and there is a decorative central gable face above the central top window. 

Initially constructed with rear loading access to all floors, the rear of the building has been altered in the course of time with additions to its loading and delivery facilities. 

The interior has had internal changes made during the life of the building to reflect the needs of its tenants; however, the integrity of the main structure remains.

1. ‘Building’ has been used in this citation to avoid confusion, as it is in fact a single structure

2. Ronald Lawson, Brisbane in the 1890s: a study of an Australian urban society, Brisbane, University of Queensland Press, 1987, p.236.

3. Brisbane City Council, Properties on the Web, website, post-1946 building cards

4. Brisbane City Council, 1946 aerial photographs.

5. Brisbane City Council, Sewerage Map 1913

6. Brisbane History Group, Walking Tours – Brisbane’s Commercial Heritage 1900-1940, Brisbane, Brisbane History Group, 2002

7. Byrne, Neil J., Robert Dunne Archbishop of Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland of University Press, 1991

8. Department of Labour, Director of Labour’s letter to the Under Secretary of Department of Public Works, 2 November 1921

9. Department of Natural Resources, Queensland Certificates of Title and other records

10. John Oxley Library Photograph Collection

11. John Oxley Library, newspaper clippings files

12. Lawson, Ronald 1973, Brisbane in the 1890s: A Study of an Australian Urban Society, University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia

13. Mahlstedt & Son, City of Brisbane Detail Fire Survey, Map No. 11,1951

14. Mizzi, Lorraine, An Update of Brisbane Survivors 1924-1988, Brisbane, Watson Ferguson & Co, 1988

15. National Trust of Queensland, The Allan and Stark Heritage Walk, Brisbane, National Trust of Queensland, 1986

16. Queensland Post Office Directories, 1868-1949

17. Waterson D.B., & Arnold J., Biographical Register of the Queensland Parliament 1930-1980, Canberra, Australian National University, 1982

18. Donald Watson and Judith McKay, Queensland Architects of the Nineteenth Century, South Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1994