Council Depot

This is a former electricity generating station, later used as a council depot, dating from 1903 and designed by Mitchell and Sumner. The building is constructed of red brick with stone dressings, topped with a slate roof. It has a complex layout, featuring a main hall flanked by offices on one side and smaller halls on the other, accessible by a ramp. The halls are characterised by round-arched windows set within stone surrounds and keystones, along with some flat-headed windows also with keystones and metal glazing bars. Pilasters are present on blind side walls, accompanied by bands of stonework, a glazed clerestory, and a single chimney. Large round stone arches feature over double doors in the three-bay end walls, each with a gable window above. The offices form a symmetrical composition of two storeys and an attic, with tall stacks, a pyramidal roof, and high pointed dormers featuring stone mouldings. The five-bay front has a central entrance within a Gibbs surround. Timber sash windows with small panes in the upper sashes have keystones, with those on the ground floor linked by an elaborate stone band. A similar baroque design serves as a cornice, and the corners are finished in stone. It is flanked by two-bay single-storey side wings with flat roofs and a similar corner decoration, each featuring round-arched tripartite windows.

The main generating hall has a tiled interior with a dado of blue and red tiles, white tiles above, and is articulated by a blind arcade and pilasters. It incorporates a steel truss roof, a clerestory, and a full-width overhead travelling crane. A second hall has painted white brick walls under a similar steel truss roof and clerestory. The third hall is thought to be an addition, is floored, and has been subdivided. A long ramp leads up to this third hall, with offices situated underneath, their windows featuring metal glazing beneath flat concrete heads.

The office block features elaborate interiors, including a flat balustered timber staircase and double doors within timber surrounds with decorative coloured glazing. Offices have timber doors in eared surrounds, along with fireplaces.

The site opened in 1903 as a combined refuse incinerator and electricity generating station, providing power for street lighting and domestic interiors. Electricity generation ceased in 1923 and incineration in 1965. The architecture survives substantially intact, including the fine offices, and exemplifies an early power station, with the combined incinerator use being particularly unusual. The chimney has been removed, but otherwise the building is exceptionally well preserved for its early date.