Old Bushells Factory, Former tea warehouse and factory in The Rocks, Sydney, Australia
The Old Bushells Factory is a building complex on George Street in The Rocks, comprising two connected structures with brick walls and timber framing across multiple levels. Today offices, shops, and an art gallery occupy the renovated spaces within the structure.
No. 88 was built in 1886 for Virgoe Son and Chapman, and Bushells leased it in 1904. In 1912 the six-storey No. 86 warehouse by Government Architect W. L. Vernon was completed, and No. 88 was cut back 10 metres for Hickson Road and given an extra floor. Bushells left in 1924; government stores, offices and the Health Commission followed until 1980.
The corner plaza at George Street and Hickson Road was created in 1976–77 with a donation from the Bushells Group, and a plaque was unveiled there on 26 January 1977 marking the firm's long association with The Rocks. The ground level now holds shops, a cafe with outdoor seating on Bushells Place, and an art gallery.
The complex sits between George Street and Hickson Road, terraced into the slope, so entry levels differ on each side. Car parking for No. 88 is reached under Bushells Place from Hickson Road. The café seats outdoors on Bushells Place, and a small plaza at the George Street–Hickson Road corner dates from 1976–77.
No. 86 was among the first buildings in Sydney to use a steel frame, supplied by Dorman Long & Co of Britain, the firm that later built the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The two buildings share floor levels between ground and third floors, and Vernon matched brickwork, piers and parapets so they read as one complex.
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