C.A. Stephan Pty Ltd saddlery (former)

By the late 1880s and early 1890s Albion was one of a number of prosperous suburban centres which had arisen in response to the expansion of Brisbane from its former small city core. The building of the Albion Public Hall and the 1889 construction of the impressive Queensland National Bank branch (demolished) on Sandgate Road, next to the Albion Exchange was indicative of the rise of Albion as a prosperous suburban centre. Several other commercial buildings were constructed along Sandgate Road in this period. 

The company was founded in 1895 and from that year, Stephan is listed as a saddler on Sandgate Rd. Stephan leased the property from Jens Christiansen. In 1902 Carl Albert Stephan purchased an eighteen perch block of land along Sandgate Road, Albion. An historic photograph from the early twentieth century shows a modest timber weatherboard shop with the words ‘C.A. Stephan, Saddle and Harness Maker’ on the awning.    

The saddlery business consisted of a retail premises with Sandgate Road frontage for the sale of equipment and a rear workshop for the manufacture of the goods. The period in which Stephan established his business was one in which the main means of transportation was horse drawn. C.A. Stephan manufactured high quality harnesses for various horse drawn vehicles such as delivery vans, trams, wagons, sulkies and buggies as well as saddles and other equine related equipment. As demand was high in this era the business flourished.

During the First World War great advances in automobile technology were made.  After the war, due to these improvements, cars were being mass-produced and this meant greater affordability. The 1920s saw an increase in ownership of the motor car and the use of the horse drawn carriage diminished. Instead of C.A. Stephan’s saddlery business suffering however, it flourished. One factor in this may have been its close proximity to Albion and Eagle Farm racecourses. Another factor was the continued demand for high quality saddles and harnesses throughout Queensland. Horses were being used in the canefields in north Queensland, and cattle and sheep properties in outback Queensland and the Northern Territory. This became C. A. Stephan Pty Ltd’s most lucrative market.  

Reflecting the prosperity experienced by the company in the interwar period, the Sandgate Road premises were expanded. In 1931, 1932 and 1933 a succession of building approvals for additions to the shop and the rear factory were made. The contractor for all work was recorded as P.H. Gridley. Constructed at the height of the Great Depression, the two-storey brick retail premises was designed with contemporary Art Deco features that belied the harsh economic times and reflected the company’s stability and prosperity. The factory behind the main shop was also expanded. 

Carl Albert Stephan died in 1938 but his company continued to flourish thanks to his sons Leslie, Ernest and Herbert who carried on the family business. In 1999 C.A Stephan Pty Ltd moved from Albion and continues to manufacture high quality products for horses, at a new location on the outskirts of Brisbane. This masonry building on Sandgate Road, Albion, is an important reminder of a once thriving industry in Albion. 

Following a change of ownership in 1998 the former warehouse has been refurbished and renovated. In 2000, fibro sheeting added in the postwar period was removed as well as stucco rendering. Windows were replaced and most of the interior was converted to residential premises with about 25 per cent being retained as a commercial premises. The renovation reflects the store’s 1930s appearance and retains its early twentieth century form and street presence.

1. Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Survey Maps

2. Brisbane City Council, 1946 aerial photographs.

3. Certificates of Title, Department of Environment and Resource Management

4. McKellar's Map of Brisbane and Suburbs. Brisbane: Surveyor-General’s Office, 1895

5. Queensland Post Office Directories

6. Queensland Electoral Rolls

7. Brisbane City Council, Register of New Buildings, 1931, 1932, 1933

8. www.castephan.com.au

9. The Courier Mail, Tuesday 21 March 1939, p10

10. The Courier Mail, Tuesday 13 December 1938. p8