Dutch Trading Company

Statement of Significance

The place has aesthetic value as an example of a single storey commercial building built in the Federation architectural style. The place has value for its ongoing commercial presence on Albany Highway.

Physical Description

241-243 Albany Highway is a single storey rendered masonry building that retains architectural detail to the upper façade and parapet. The ground floor shop front details have been modified with infill timber cladding and bifold windows. There is decorative moulding to the parapet and a rendered string cornice to the façade. The façade is divided into two unequal bays. Within the bays are rectangular recesses that feature square openings. Whilst the ground floor detail has been altered the upper façade architectural detail has been retained. The place is currently (January 2021) a Bar and Café.

History

A building first appears on this site in post office directories in 1908, at which time it was occupied by Holmes Bros & Co Ltd, butchers. Holmes Bros & Co was a chain of butcher shops. Robert Elliot was the first manager at Victoria Park, and lived on site in 1908, but within a year had been replaced by Alfred James. From 1909, the southern portion of the store was listed as a wine saloon.1 As a 1913 photograph shows the extant structure, it appears the building shown in 1908 is the one that remains in 2021. The photograph from 1913 shows 241-243 Albany Highway with three bays of verandah over the footpath. Decorative wrought iron trim is evident at the top of each verandah post. Above the north bay the canopy reads ‘Meat Supply’ and above the south ‘Victoria Wine Saloon’. The central bay reads ‘Victoria Park – G. Trowbridge’ [possibly C]. A number of butchers’ delivery carts and men in striped butcher aprons are posed in front of the store, indicating the business ran an extensive meat delivery service at the time. A caption with the image notes that meat was taken whole on the carts and cut up in front of customers. The adjacent store at 245 Albany Highway appears to be a fruit and vegetable store at this time. It had a cantilevered canopy but no verandah posts.2 George Trowbridge is listed as the manager of Holmes’ butcher in 1911. In subsequent years, Holmes is no longer mentioned. By 1915, street numbering had been assigned, with the butcher at 137 and wine saloon at 139. This was changed to 241-243 in the mid-1920s. Trowbridge continued to run the butcher’s store until 1926. The following year, the butcher at 241 is listed as Harold V. George, who remained for around five years. Although the store continued to be a butcher to the end of the 1940s and probably beyond, the occupant changed several times through the 1930s and 1940s. George Trowbridge set up nearby in a new building at 221 Albany Highway, from 1929, where he remained for over ten years.3 The proprietor of the wine saloon changed frequently. Often, the saloon was run by women, including Mrs E. McAlpine (1909-1911), Mrs E. Clarke (1915), Mrs Amy Allan (1920), Mrs K Donohue (1921), Mrs M.M. Malladine (1925-1926), Miss M. McDonald (1930-1934).4 A 1934 plan shows 241-245 Albany Highway as three abutting single-storey brick buildings. 241 has a galvanised iron portion at the rear. A yard behind 241-243 has a large timber building filling much of area behind 241 and a fenced area behind 243, possibly relating to its function as a butcher. The rear yard at 245 is mostly clear. A recessed verandah on the south side of 245, facing an alley between 245 and the adjacent 249, suggests the rear portion probably included a residence.5 From 1935, the wine saloon was run by Violet Pearl Thomson. It continued to be known as Victoria Wine Saloon. In 1941, Thomson transferred the liquor license to Israel Weiss. Weiss ran the wine saloon until at least 1949.6 She lived at 243 Albany Highway, presumably behind the wine saloon.7 When Israel Weiss died in 1955, aged 75, she was resident at Mount Hawthorn, indicating she had left the wine saloon in Victoria Park before this time.8 The timber building behind 241 was removed in the 1950s. The rear yards of 241, 243 and 245 in the 1960s and early 1970s have trees and lawn, suggesting there were residences associated with all the shops. In the mid-1970s, a long narrow extension was added behind 243.9 In the early 1990s, a major rebuild at 241-243 resulted in the lot being almost entirely filled by buildings. Although the façade in 2021 appears relatively unchanged from early imagery, the whole expanded structure has been re-roofed as one. The adjacent 245 appears on aerial photographs to be unchanged from its 1934 footprint.10 A November 2007 image shows 241-243 apparently vacant, with interior works taking place. Lettering above the entrance reads ‘Manhattans’, which likely reflects the previous tenant. Neighbouring 245 is branded Super Fuji Japanese Market. In 2014, the Japanese market (No. 245) had become Ulara Japanese café, while 241-243 was again vacant, now branded ‘The Causeway’. It appears it was being converted to ‘The Causeway’ in March 2014, as a year later imagery shows it in use with this name. By October 2016, 241-243 was occupied by Dutch Trading Company and runs a beer kitchen, bar and bottleshop, with signage stating the place was established in 2015. It still remains in late 2020. Ulara continued trading at 2018 until at least 2018, followed by Lan Zhou Noodle Bar, the tenant in late 2020.11

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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