Garry Gillard > photos >
Most photos here were taken New Year's Day 2008 in Wood St and Knutsford St, with a few updates and additions. This still looks like an industrial estate, but has been rezoned for mixed residential and other. It's elevated, and will be sold for heaps.
(Eight years later, in 2016, none has been redeveloped.)
Fremantle City Council yard
This is getting off to a good start; it's all downhill from here - tho the recycling yard isn't very welcoming from this side. I'm impressed it's open on New Year's Day.
Update: this is no longer used, except for parking. The recycling depot is now on the next corner, of Knutsford and Montreal Sts.
Fremantle City Council yard
The sign says you'll be garrotted if you leave rubbish here. There's often some, but, right in front of the sign :)
Fremantle City Council yard
See: it's getting worse - tho we are going uphill.
10 Wood St
This is the highest point, and this land will be worth squillions. It is!
In 2023, this is 10C Wood Street: they rent storage space, it seems.
12 Wood St
This building had some patching to its parapet recently. Due to go.
But before it does, it has become a canvas for some 'street art', in the Mayor's words, or, in other words, graffitied. I won't dignify the 'artwork' by taking photos of it.
In 2023 the graffiti is unchanged from when it was first perpretrated.
14 Wood St
The number you can see on the main building is tastefully carved in the stone/concrete, but the postie couldn't read it so they painted another, crappy one near the mailbox in the glamorous porch. This one has been graffitied also.
As with the building next door, the original "street art" is unchanged in 2023.
37 Wood St
This is my favourite building in the area, simply because it's been abandoned so long the sign is no longer legible. CHALWELL WRECKERS moved to the corner of Wood and Stack, but they left there quite a while ago, and that building is now no longer in use either. This was @ 1 January 2008.
37 Wood St
This is what 37 Wood St looked like at the beginning of December 2012, as it was being knocked down, one brick at a time.
Update: the site has now been cleared.
In 2023, there is now simply a galvanised iron fence enclosing a storage yard.
39 Wood St
The people at 39 used to make cardboard boxes or something similar. No sign of life at the moment.
39 Wood St again
Here they are not again.
41 Wood St
These people say they are Timber Traders. The folding sign says you can buy a bag of firewood for $8. Not much call for that in January.
In 2023, not much has changed; just a bit of 'garden' at the front.
41a Wood St
Just guessing the number, as there seems to be no mailbox. They say they make 'cutting edges and track shoes'. Strange combination.
43 Wood St
Fremantle Trailers and Youngs Plumbing share a gate.
Update: Youngs Plumbing later moved around the corner into Stack St, into a new building. But they weren't there long before the building was occupied by ... Cottesloe City Council, of all things. I guess rents are a lot less in Freo than in Cott.
43 Wood St again
The trailers need a brick building, but.
In 2023, the tenants are Monsterball amusements and hire.
45-47 Wood St
McLellans Haulage doesn't look much, but they move a lot of stuff. I'm guessing they also use the yard around the corner you'll see in a sec. Update: in 2017 there's now a new pre-fab temporary sort of office building on the front of this site.
The McLennans building has been replaced at 47 by these people, who don't give much away. 2023.
I missed the 'tram' as it went up Wood St. The driver did pause, tho, in case I was a tourist, as I was holding a camera. Not for long, but.
69 Knutsford St
This is the corner of Wood and Knutsford.
This is now used by another timber dealer company, called Ludlow, I think.
The property at 61-69 Knutsford Street has a Heritage Council entry, as follows.
History
The site was vacant through the first half of the twentieth century. From 1952, Reliance Battery Service and Spray Signs operated from 69 Knutsford Street, which was owned by Raymond Howard Hicks and leased to Peter Rayne. A warehouse was erected at 61 Knutsford Street by James Kiernan Pty Ltd, a transport company established c.1925. Further buildings were erected on the site in 1955-56, at 69 Knutsford Street, and 1956-57, at 65 Knutsford Street. The latter was built for Noel Sweeny Pty Ltd, later to become Sweeny United Transport Ltd.
69 Knutsford Street was acquired by Fremantle Councillor Lindsay Hudson Brown in 1960, and leased to Dick Turton. Plans were drawn by Atlas Construction in 1964 for a saw-tooth roofed warehouse at the corner of Wood and Knutsford Streets, at which time the 1956 building remained extant.
In 1968 the entire site of 61-69 Knutsford Street was transferred to Sweeny United Transport Ltd. A wireless mast was installed on site the following year. Brick offices adjacent to the warehouse at 69 Knutsford Street were constructed in 1971, designed by McDonald Whitaker & Partners and built by D.K. Gildersleeve Projects. The 1956 shed was removed at this time.
From 1986 the site was used by United Transport WA and, from 1992, by Western Mining Corporation Petroleum Division. Other recent occupants include DJS Towing, Perth Stabilised Earth and Jinayiki Steel. The buildings were vacant in 2010 and Global Transport Logistics used the site as a depot.
A Heritage Assessment was prepared in Feb 2010 by Philip Griffiths Architects for a DA submission to Council (DA0630/09) for redevelopment of the site. All buildings were vacant at this time, and the fabric of all the buildings was in poor condition. In June 2010 Council recommended approving the demolition subject to an interpretation strategy being prepared.
Summary of buildings and ownership/use:
Building 1 – partially built 1954 for James Kiernan Shipping Agents; 1959 ‘steel and asbestos truck coverage’ built for JC Cunningham Claremont. Owned by United Transport WA by 1981 and R J Coleman from 1989 to present.
B2 – built as a garage for Noel Sweeney Pty Ltd in 1955 – built by the Sweeneys. Owned by Sweeney United Transport from 1968.
B3 – mostly built 1964 (steel-framed asbestos roofed warehouse with saw tooth roof) and brick offices added 1972. Owned by Sweeney United Transport from 1968.
B4 – built as a store for Arthur Oxwell, 1955. Steel framed. Asbestos roof. Colorbond clad walls except wall to Wood St which is brick. Owned by Sweeney United Transport from 1968.
B5 – two stores built in 1955 for Lindsay Brown. Connected later, date unknown, into one store. Steel framed Colorbond walls and asbestos roof, with two small brick buildings to the front of the main sheds. Owned by Fremantle Bond Store to 1972, then R J Coleman.
B6 – date unknown, appears similar age, steel frame walls and roof, tubular steel roof frame, partial brick façade with simple gable form roof with a south-facing roof light.
Physical Description
The site comprises six warehouse buildings, four of which address Wood Street. Building 1, at the corner with Amherst Street, is a single-storey steel and brick building with gambrel corrugated iron asbestos roof. It has a basement under the three southern bays of the building. Building 2, in the centre of the Knutsford Street block, is a single storey load bearing brick building with gambrel and corrugated asbsestos cement roof. Building 3, at the corner of Wood and Knutsford Streets, has two sections, one at the northern end with a shallow pitched roof and and earlier section with saw tooth roof along the Wood Street frontage. The earlier section has corrugated iron cladding over a brick base, while the later section is brick. Building 4, south along Wood Street, has had numerous changes. It has a low pitched roof and is clad in corrugated iron. Its Wood Street elevation has a large stepped parapet. Building 5, further south along Wood Street, shows evidence of at least two phases of construction, one with a saw tooth roof and the other a gabled and skillion roofed building with metal frame and cladding. Building 6, at the southern boundary of the Wood Street section, is rectangular in plan with a saw toothed roof and brick and metal walls.
A Heritage Assessment was prepared in Feb 2010 by Philip Griffiths Architects for a DA submission to Council (DA0630/09) for redevelopment of the site. All buildings were vacant at this time, and the fabric of all the buildings was in poor condition. In June 2010 Council recommended approving the demolition subject to an interpretation strategy being prepared.
Statement of Significance
Warehouses/Offices, 61-69 Knutsford Street, a precinct of brick warehouses and a yard for storing trucks and containers, has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons:
the place has been associated with the transport industry from 1954 to the present (2010);
the place is representative of functional brick warehouses used by the shipping and forwarding industry; and,
the place is associated with James Kiernan Pty Ltd, a significant transport company in Western Australia.
24 Knutsford St
People here used to sell fish: note the fancy antenna thingy. Now, I dunno.
26 Knutsford St
The goddess knows what happens here.
28 Knutsford St
This used to have a sign saying it was an ArtSpace. I think perhaps George Haynes and maybe Tim Burns had something to do with it. The street number is painted on a TV screen. Cute.
Update. This was the Luc Longley residence recently, together with number 20 (after his place at 19 Montreal Street burnt down in the middle of the night). I suppose it was he who put the basketball hoop up. Anyway, he and his family have now moved on. And 19 Montreal Street has become the "Assembly Yard" reception facility, for marriages or whatever. It doesn't look very glamorous from the street; just a big shed.
28-30 Knutsford St
Paino Brothers say that they're at 30, and that they work in wood.
Update. Number 30 was transformed into part of a residence by Luc Longley. The two buildings contained, inter alia, a fullsize basketball court and a lap pool.
30-32 Knutsford St
The 'buildings' at 30 are shipping containers enclosed in metal walls and rooves. I hope they have aircon!
(DJS, in the sign in the foreground in front of 69 Knutsford (cnr Wood Street) refers to DJ's Towing, which was there at the time of the photo.)
31 Knutsford St
This building is in the middle of a yard of shipping containers, so it's prolly only used for storage. It's remarkable for having a URL made of metal on the front of it. It still works: www.article.net.au but no longer for its original owner.
Update: this building has now been officially graffitied also.
Further update: the building has now been removed.
In 2023, that URL now no longer turns up anything at all.
It's a yard: what can I say?
Update: I can now say that it's empty.
Further update. No, it's not. It's now being used for the open-air storage of all kinds of stuff.
Former bond store, cnr Knutsford and Wood
Dunno what's in this now, but the old painted letters say 'bond store' on one bit, and 'free store' on another.
Trailer
Truckies leave these things lying about. Spose they're a bit big to steal.
Update. Now that one quarter of that block is a housing estate, with the other three-quarters to be built sooner or later, there won't be any more trailers parked there. Nice to see that the pillarbox was allowed to remain. Update: in 2017 most of the block is under construction or lived in. Update 2023: the pillarbox is long gone, like most of its kind.
A distant prospect of ... tanks. They took the black ones away and prepared the land for humans to live on, but the white ones remain. Why?
Update: they've all gone now, but the land remains unused. Why?
Further update. Years later, the question remains.
Tank.
Isn't it pretty ... big?
Update: gone.
Butterfly
A human made an effort, tho nature looks as tho it's given up.
Anyone for ... cricket?
Gates ... leading to millions of dollars worth of vacant land.
In April 2013 this is no longer vacant: it's now being developed as 'Knutsford'.
Update: in June 2013 the plumbing and electricity are in the ground and the blocks ready for building. There's a temporary sales office on site.
Further update. As I said above, one quarter of this housing estate has been built.
In 2023, the final few lots are having units built on them .
This was the first of several large developments in the area, which all seem to come under the heading of 'Knutsford'.
This particular one was designed by Michael Patroni of SpaceAgency and is on the block confined by Knutsford, Chalmers, Blinco and Amherst Streets.
These were in the yard of the former Chalwell Wreckers 18 October 2012.
This was the front of Chalwell Wreckers in January 2016. Should be gone soon. Update: in 2017 it's still there, used for storage. 2023: still there, looks the same.
The building and others adjacent are apparently owned by the guy who owns and drives that truck on the right of the photo. His headquarters are to the right, up the street, at 14 Stack St.
When I moved here in 1992, this building at 14 Stack St housed a foundry with a specialisation in keels. The foundryman died some years ago and this building and others above are now apparently owned by the truckie I mentioned, who seems to have a penchant for collecting antique machinery like that which adorns the street in this photo. I'm glad it doesn't bother anyone - including me.
The facade of 14 Stack Street hasn't changed much since it was a foundry.
Garry Gillard | New: 1 January, 2008 | Now: 23 April, 2023