The Rum Store

Date Built: c1879, Renovated 2000

Architect: Daryl Jackson Robin Dyke

5 storeys, 13 warehouse style apartments. Site of CSR boiler house precinct.

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Rum Store

Overview

Employees' reading room, circa 1930s Cutting the cake (with a cane knife) to celebrate the third anniversary of the weekly concert ca 1950 Cafeteria Stage where weekly concerts were held Rum Store Pan house, Rum Store, high pressure boiler station (l to r) Rum Store Rum Store from the North

Daryl Jackson Robyn Dyke restored this building in 2000, as a five-storey apartment block of 13 units. Timber floors, hardwood beams, cast iron windows and sandstone window sills preserve the form of the original building.

The building dates from 1879 as an important part of the CSR operation. It seems never to have stored rum: the name may be a creation of Lend Lease’s marketing specialists. Before CSR arrived, the building may have been an hotel. In the shadow of the power house, in recent times it hosted refinery engineers’ offices and workers’ amenities.

CSR management worked hard to instil a sense of family loyalty in its work force. Works picnics were a regular event, and so were concerts, using a stage in this building. There was space also, for a cafeteria and a staff reading room.