History of the building

The modern apartments which now occupy the whole of the block between Trafalgar Street and Johnston Lane sit on one of the suburb’s most significant former industrial sites.

The site was first used in 1895 when Taylor Bros., jam makers, established a factory there. They initially shared the site with William M Evans, a coach maker but by 1905 the factory had expanded and Taylor Bros had the whole block to themselves

Taylor Bros. had commenced business in Chippendale in the 1870’s. Within several years of setting up their Booth Street factory they had occupied several sites in Annandale including a bulk store just to the north on the east side of Trafalgar Street just north of Booth Street. They later moved the factory to No. 65 Johnston Street and more of their history is described below.

By 1915 Taylor Bros. had left the site and it was occupied by FW Clarke, a licensed spirit merchant and George Younger & Son Ltd, brewers*. Percy Bussell, referred to above, may also have used part of the site for his fuel business at around this time. Between that time and the early 1930’s the site was used by a series of enterprises including a wood and coal business and Harrington’s Photo Works. As will be seen, Harrington’s had a long association with the site. 

By the early 1930’s Raycophone was sharing the site with Harrington’s who were by then described variously as metallurgists, assayers and analysts. They worked in association with Raycophone, assisting them to develop and manufacture what, at the time, was cutting edge technology. They were also a marketing arm for Raycophone products.

Raycophone was principally a manufacturer of radiograms for the home and sound equipment for the rapidly expanding cinema industry. In both fields they managed to compete with foreign manufacturers and their equipment was installed in cinemas around Australia and the Pacific. In WWII they shifted production to military hardware. Their large factory remained in the site until the mid-1960’s.

For a short history of the firm and description of the products can be found on the Radio Museum website.  A short film produced in 1935 entitled “Inside the Raycophone Factory” which depicts their operations from can be found on YouTube**.

In 1967 Kodak Film demolished the Raycophone facility and constructed a large factory and warehouse on the site. Pictures of the Kodak building can be found on the Museums Victoria site here, here and here.​

*It is not known if they were associated with the Scottish brewers of the same name.

** Further information about the firm and its work during World War Two can be found at Annandale on the Web at https://www.ramin.com.au/annandale/story5.shtml. Information about the development of the firm and the market in which it operated from the 1930’s and into the 1950’s see also http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p27481/mobile/ch11s02.html. See also da Cruz, 1920s Annandale page 46; da Cruz, 1930’s Annandale