The Metters Building is a heritage-listed office building at 154-158 Elizabeth Street, in the

Sydney central business district The Sydney central business district (CBD) is the historical and main Central business district, commercial centre of Sydney. The CBD is Sydney's city centre, or Sydney City, and the two terms are used interchangeably. Colloquially, the CBD or c ...

, in the City of Sydney local government area of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. It was designed by Robertson and Marks and built by W. Gawne & Sons in 1914. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

History

The stove manufacturer

Metters Limited Metters was a brand of stoves and ovens made by Metters & Company, an Australian company established in Adelaide in 1891 by Frederick Metters (1858–1937), who patented and manufactured a number of kitchen appliances notably the 'top-fire' woo ...

bought this site, next to the building that was then called the Concordia Hall, from the City of Sydney early in April 1913 for . Later that month ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' announced that architects Robertson & Marks were drawing up plans for "a large four-storey building for showrooms and offices." These plans for a 4-storeyed building were approved in June 1913, but by July the plans had been changed to six storeys. ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' reported that Messrs Robertson & Marks were about to sign a contract to erect "a very fine building of six storeys for Metters Ltd". ''The Herald'' went on to write that "the elevation to Elizabeth Street will be of an attractive design, mostly in the Old English style of architecture" and that on the corner of Nithsdale Lane there would be "a large oriel window from the first floor to the sixth storey, surmounted by a tower." There were to be "many large windows" along the frontage to the lane, contributing, wrote ''The Herald'', to make the building "one of the best lighted in the city." It underwent alterations to the shopfront .

Description

Metters Building is located in a mixed streetscape along Elizabeth Street. It is a six-storey building of Federation Anglo Dutch style with a corner oriel window and a central two

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

facade surmounted by a high triangular

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

. The tower to the oriel window is missing. An unusual use of a projecting

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

occurs to the oriel window and the end bay which balances it in an asymmetrically manner. The central bays are distinguished by arched windows divided by solid spandrels. At the sixth floor smaller flat arched windows form part of an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

frieze. At the first floor an entablature is supported by projecting

brackets A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...

. The facade below the

awning An awning or overhang is a secondary covering attached to the exterior wall of a building. It is typically composed of canvas woven of acrylic, cotton or polyester yarn, or vinyl laminated to polyester fabric that is stretched tightly over a lig ...

has been significantly modified. Internally the plan is rectangular with a rear lightwell. The interior is lacking in quality detailing but is quite intact with original metal ceilings and glass to the toilet area. The building is unusual for its original timber fire stair. It is significantly intact above the ground floor level. Domenico Chisari is the longest maintenance personnel to be employed at the site from 1974 to present and has a vast knowledge of residence of the building since that time.

Heritage listing

The Metters' Building is part of a group of early twentieth-century commercial buildings that have retained a high degree of architectural integrity, sufficient to form a distinctive aesthetic precinct representing the period 1910-1914. The retention of

Federation Free Style Federation architecture is the architectural style in Australia that was prevalent from around 1890 to 1915. The name refers to the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901, when the Australian colonies collectively became the Commonwealth of Au ...

detailing above the ground floor is significant. The Metters Building was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

References

Bibliography

Attribution