Assembly Hall, Footscray

No doubt there is quite a history to this little deco Assembly Hall in the back streets of Footscray.

Who assembled here? Who uses it now and why have the windows been bricked up with such unsympathetic bricks?

I first glimpsed this building several years ago from Footscray Road, just before it takes a dog-leg and ducks under the Geelong Road overpass. Since then I have always looked for it when passing but never ventured down for a closer look and to take a few photos ... until now.

Windows, Footscray Town Hall

Early this year I wrote about the former City of Footscray Town Hall designed by architect Joseph Plottel and opened in 1936. I'd never been inside and I got the chance to have a quick look the other day. Unfortunately I didn't get to see any of the grander rooms and I imagine there are some in this fine building. No I got to duck up some side stairs to have a look at an exhibition. On the way I snapped these leadlight windows.

Troy House of Music, Footscray

Troy House of Music, Footscray

Footscray Town Hall

Joseph Plottel designed the former City of Footscray Town Hall, now also known as the Maribyrnong Town Hall, to replace an older Town Hall dating from 1875. The building was opened by the Governor, Lord Huntingfield in November 1936 and it was described at the time in the souvenir programme as being treated after the Romanesque manner.

While I can appreciate it as a fine building I don't especially like the decoration. Too busy for my taste, however, the entry in the Victorian Heritage Register talks of some contemporary Moderne styled interiors so no doubt I will have to go back and take a look inside.

I did like the pair of standard lights in front of the entrance at the footpath. I wouldn't call them Deco but sit on a rounded brick column at the end of a stepped wall. Each one carries a small rectangular plague on its base proclaiming DONATED BY FOOTSCRAY BRANCH AUSTRALIAN NATIVES ASSOCIATION TO COMMEMORATE THEIR JUBILEE 1886 TO 1936. I like that.

Reference:
Footscray Town Hall, VHR H1218

Royal Hotel, Footscray

When I was in Footscray the other day I noticed that the Royal Hotel on the corner of Barkly & Droop Sts has been reduced to a shell. It hasn't been looking that good for a few years. Even when I wrote about it in September 2008 including a photo circa 2005 (below) it looked like the paintwork had not been completed.

I believe it will be developed as shops and apartments.

Shop 105, Footscray

The mall in Nicholson St, Footscray is a bit of a rundown part of town and this is typical of the general state of some of the shops in the strip.

I don't know if it is an altered front on an older shop and no doubt it has seen better days but with a lick of paint it could be so good again.

Royal Hotel, Footscray

I've seen a photo of a much older Royal Hotel on this prominent corner in Footscray dating from around the 1880s but I don't know if this is a complete rebuild or a make-over. So many Melbourne pubs were renovated during the 20s and 30s to help them prevent their hotel licences being recinded and the pub closed by the authorities.

In any case it is a great hotel, a great ship even, with a rounded facade on the apex of the corner.

The decoration is minimal with some speedlines on the parapet and tiled columns either side of the entrance.

I took this photo in 2005 and I noticed when I passed recently that the paintwork around the name still hadn't been finished.

Factory, Footscray

I like the brickwork on this old factory in Footscray.

The use of different coloured bricks creates horizontal bands along the facade of the building.

The cream bricks have been arranged to provide the decoration. The band above the upper storey windows have bricks set on their end, angled and set back from the level of the other courses of bricks.

The band of bricks above the second level windows are much more interesting. The central band again consists of bricks standing vertically on their end but above and below this band the bricks have been laid on an angle so that the protrude from the surface of the wall crating a wonderful zig-zag pattern.

It stands out particularily at the curved end of the building. The zig-zag shadows cast on the windows are especially nice reminding me of the saw-tooth roofs used on many Australian factories.

But the most amazing brickwork can be found in the decoration at the centre of the building at the apex of the slightly stepped roofline. It consists of three triangular columns capped with a pyramid of bricks and separated by a series of columns created by angled bricks.

Truly spectacular but perhaps the most amazing thing is that it is duplicated around the corner over the loading bay.