Cooperage

Date Built: 1901 (rebuilt 2006)

Architect: Howard Tanner

4 storey commercial building. Date built 1901. Redesigned and rebuilt 2006. Exterior design Howard Tanner. Interior design Form Follows Function. CSR site for manufacture of barrels for rum.

Cooperage

Now

The Cooperage The Cooperage

This four-storey commercial office block is adaptively reused and the work was completed in 2006. The exterior was redesigned by Howard Tanner, and the interior design by Form Follows Function.
The structure is intact, and displays significant pieces of barrel-making machinery, including the large bandsaw that cut wooden staves into precise shapes. The staves were fitted together and bound with iron hoops to form barrels. A viewing gallery around the barrel hoist in the foyer shows how the barrels were moved between floors, and a great whetstone survives, to show how the craftsmen sharpened their saws, hoop drivers, adzes and chisels.
The demolition of the distillery (across Bowman Street) and the widening of that street, make it harder to imagine the overhead rails which carried the barrels to the distillery.