The Former Addis Factory, Western Range

The former Addis Factory, western range, is an office building constructed in 1935 by Douglas Hamilton for the Addis Company. It originally formed part of a larger factory complex, though the workshops have since been demolished. The building is of red brick with profiled concrete detailing, featuring continuous steel-framed glazing and a flat concrete roof. It has a linear east-west plan, originally accompanied by workshop ranges to the south, with an entrance located in the return at the east end.

The north elevation is two storeys high, with an upper floor supported by a profiled and projecting concrete beam that runs the building’s entire length as a storey band. The west end has a curved corner. The glazing is steel-framed, with six rectangular panes on the ground floor and four on the first floor, featuring projecting continuous sills and heads. Brick walling flanks the upper floor glazing. An advanced two-storey stair tower with a curved front is located towards the east end, the lower floor largely brick with a shallow clerestory band, the upper floor almost entirely glazed with ten-pane lights. A shallow tower with a curved north face rises above the stair tower and the main range, mirroring the stair tower’s profile.

The east end entrance curves around the corner, featuring a double doorway set within a quadrant reveal beneath the storey beam canopy. A first-floor window, four panes high, follows the curve of the frontage. The original glazed doors, furniture, and a six-pane overlight remain, set on a diagonally-tiled threshold. A stepped brick staircase leads to the first-floor doorway on the west end, with a hooped metal ladder providing access to the roof. A clock face, composed of individually mounted numerals, is positioned above the doorway. A late 20th-century extension to the rear replaces the former workshops and imitates the design of the main elevation.

Interior remodelling has occurred, but the entrance lobby, stairwell, and first-floor boardroom retain original detailing. The staircase is supported by a concrete column that extends upwards and fans outwards to support the roof. Original doors, door furniture, boardroom furniture, and interior glass wall blocks have been preserved. The building represents a rare example of a streamlined ‘moderne’ design applied to industrial architecture in the 1930s.