Hawken and Vance Produce Exchange is a heritage-listed commercial building facade at 95–99 Sussex Street, Sydney,

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...

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 built in 1883, with the remainder of the building apart from the facade being demolished in 1989. It was added to the

New South Wales State Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...

on 2 April 1999.

History

It appears from early rate assessment books and

Sands Directory The Sands Directories, also published as the Sands and Kenny Directory and the Sands and McDougall Directory were annual publications in Australia. They listed household, business, society, and Government contacts in Melbourne, Adelaide and Syd ...

entries that this building was originally No. 97 Sussex Street and was flanked by Nos. 95 and 99 which were two-storey buildings. From 1884 to 1932–33, three buildings are independently listed for the three numbers, all three owned by Hawken and Vance for most of that period. Joseph Edmund Vance and

Nicholas Hawken Nicholas Hawken (1 January 1836 – 13 July 1908) was an English-born Australian politician. Hawken was born at St Austell in Cornwall to William Hawken and Phillipa Harding. He was educated locally and migrated to New South Wales in 1854, ...

began as produce merchants in 1868. The partnership continued successfully until Vance's retirement in 1914. Nicholas Hawken was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

and Joseph Vance was one of the founders of the

Clyde Engineering Clyde Engineering was an Australian manufacturer of locomotives, rolling stock, and other industrial products. It was founded in September 1898 by a syndicate of Sydney businessmen buying the Granville factory of timber merchants Huds ...

Company. The name 'Produce Exchange' suggests that it might have been more than just a warehouse, perhaps serving also as the point of contact for a variety of people, middle-men who performed a range of import-export functions. At some time between 1910 and 1920 Hawken and Vance ceased to be associated with this address and the nature of their business changed. In April 1988 Leda Holdings purchased 95–99 Sussex Street from MFN Pty Ltd for $3 million. The original building was demolished apart from the facade in 1989, with the facade incorporated into a new development.

Description

This is a front facade only, the rest of the building having been demolished and the remainder integrated into a new development of similar height at the street front and one storey higher set back. The three-storey facade is brick, faced with stucco in the Victorian Free Classical style. It is a three-bay composition articulated by

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s at each storey, the three levels being marked by cornice motifs, with a pierced and balustrade parapet above the side bays and a

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 ...

above the centre. In the pediment is the raised lettering HAWKEN & VANCE PRODUCE EXCHANGE 1883. Decorative spiked urns originally crowned the parapet piers. Modern full-width windows fill the street level bays. Above, there are triple windows in the centre and paired windows in the flanking bays. All have moulded heads and sills; at first floor level they are segmentally arched with keystone motifs; and at top level they are round-arched, only the centre being keyed. The facade has been refurbished and incorporated into a development nearly four times bigger than the old building, extending from Cuthbert's building on the south to the curved corner of Slip Street on the north. The new building has an additional storey set back from the street line so as to retain the integrity of the early structure. The design of the new work is not imitative, but harmonious in scale and proportions and offering contrasts in colour and texture.

Significance

The facade of the former Hawken and Vance building at 95–99 Sussex Street, has both intrinsic and contextual significance. It has significance as representative of the type of building associated with the wharves that once abounded in this area. It is an example of a mid-Victorian warehouse facade remaining in the city, with a pleasing Victorian Free Classical design in modelled stucco. Its integration into a new development is such that the scale of its context is appropriate and it reads as a contributory component of the streetscape. The facade has historic significance for its association with the produce company Hawken and Vance, whose principals were prominent Sydney citizens.

Heritage listing

Hawken and Vance Produce Exchange was listed on the

on 2 April 1999.

References

Attribution

* *

External links

{{Sydney central business district historical attractions, state=collapsed New South Wales State Heritage Register Commercial buildings in New South Wales Articles incorporating text from the New South Wales State Heritage Register Sussex Street, Sydney Buildings and structures completed in 1883