Survey Data
Reg No
50080619
Previous Name
Frawley's Department Store
Original Use
Department store
In Use As
Shop/retail outlet
Date
1930 - 1940
Coordinates
314588, 233864
Date Recorded
11/11/2013
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Attached three-bay three-storey department store, built c.1935, having recent shopfront to front (north) elevation. Flat roof, hidden behind rendered parapet, with raised centre bay, render platband and fascia. Cast-iron rainwater goods. Painted brick, laid in Flemish bond, to walls, brick pilasters flanking bays, with fascia and cornice. Square-headed window openings throughout with render surrounds and sills, timber framed windows. Recent timber fascia over shopfront, comprising paired entrances flanking island display case to centre, matching display windows to either side and to rear of entrance lobby. Plate glass display windows over tiled riser, terrazzo tiled floor with inset lettering and mosaic to threshold. Recent shutters to front.
Appraisal
This substantial purpose-built commercial building retains its mid-twentieth-century form and character. Frawley’s Department Store traded on Thomas Street from 1891, incorporating Nos.34-35, and subsequently no.36, before closing in 2008. Nos.34 and 35 were previously the property of P. Kelly & Co., Drapers and Clothiers. Brick pilasters and a raised parapet at the centre create a well-balanced and regular façade and are subtle details of the Art Deco style which was fashionable at the time. It makes a positive addition to the commercial and architectural character of Thomas Street. Department stores became fashionable at the turn of the twentieth century, and the freestanding display case at the front of the entrance lobby, a typical arrangement in the early decades of the twentieth century, is of interest as a rare survivor of its type. This building is an important part of the historic social and commercial character of the street.