The Michelides Tobacco Factory building was an Interwar Art Deco building in

Northbridge, Western Australia Northbridge is an inner city suburb of Perth, Western Australia, historically separated from Perth's central business district by the Fremantle and Joondalup railway lines. It is part of the City of Perth local government area. Location Loc ...

constructed in stages between the early 1920s and mid-1930s. The building was later known as the Peters Ice Cream Factory and the Tony Barlow Menswear Building. At the time of demolition, the factory was the only extant industrial building in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

to be remodelled into the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style.

Construction

The first stage of the factory was constructed in 1922 by Michelides Ltd, a Western Australian tobacco company. The

Premier of Western Australia The premier of Western Australia is the head of government of the state of Western Australia. The role of premier at a state level is similar to the role of the prime minister of Australia at a federal level. The premier leads the executive bra ...

, Sir James Mitchell opened the original factory in October 1922. In 1934 a two storey extension to the factory was built on Roe Street next to the 1922 building. The extension was designed by the architecture firm Oldham, Boas and Ednie-Brown in the

style. In 1936 the 1922 building on the corner of Lake and Roe Street was upgraded. This building was integrated with the 1934 building to form a single building. This addition was again designed by Oldham, Boas and Ednie-Brown.

Land use

The factory was built by Michelides Ltd, a company who grew tobacco and produced tobacco products. Prior to construction of the factory the Michelides had produced hand-made cigarettes, but with the introduction of mechanisation were able to increase their market share. With the decline of the local tobacco industry, harvesting of tobacco ceased in late 1959, and cigarette production ceased early in 1960. The factory later became part of the

Peters Ice Cream Peters Ice Cream is an Australian ice cream brand, now a subsidiary of European food firm Froneri. It was originally developed by an expatriate American, Frederick (Fred) Augustus Bolles Peters in 1907, using his mother's recipe. History The ...

factory. The ice cream factory had started out on the corner of Milligan and Roe Streets and expanded its operations to take in the former tobacco factory. After the departure of Peters for a site in Balcatta, the site was leased to Tony Barlow Menswear. The retailer left the building in 2009 after 20 years in Northbridge.

Heritage and demolition

In 2009 the

City of Perth A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

approved the demolition of the building suggesting that the art deco façade was not genuine and had been added in the 1980s. The approval was granted despite the proposed replacement building being twice the council's height limit. The development approval lapsed before the demolition could take place. The building was classified by the

National Trust of Australia The National Trust of Australia, officially the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT), is the Australian national peak body for community-based, non-government non-profit organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's Ind ...

in 2013. In 2013 the Western Australian Heritage Minister decided against state heritage protection for the building. The City of Perth council in January 2014 again approved the demolition of the factory, citing the lack of state heritage listing. This was despite a concerted effort by heritage groups, along with a social media campaign led by online history group "Museum of Perth", to save the building.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Art Deco architecture in Western Australia Buildings and structures in Perth, Western Australia Northbridge, Western Australia Tobacco buildings Tobacco in Australia