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Demolition Books - Albums and Prints, 1900-1949

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Photograph

Photos in this series (1,370)

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Boxes in this Series (31)

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This item is no longer under copyright in Australia and is in the public domain. It may be used freely. When using or sharing this item attribution should be given to the City of Sydney Archives.

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Demolition Books - Glass Negatives, 1900-1937

Description

Unique IDAS-0936DateBetween 1st January 1900 and 19th October 1937Date qualifiercircaFormatPhotograph - Negative Photograph - Glass NegativeDescriptionThis series contains the glass plate negatives of a set of photograph albums that have come to be known as the "Demolition Books". In fact, only the first 15 volumes relate to demolitions of properties and the full title is actually "Condemnations and Demolitions".

The rest of the volumes show properties to be resumed, and construction and alterations to Council depots, the Fruit, Vegetable, Fish and Poultry Markets, the Pyrmont Power Station and various sub-stations, alterations and additions to the Queen Victoria Building, Council parks, the Moore Park Destructor, streets in Camperdown, the Coffee Palace in Hay and Sussex Streets, the Municipal Garage in Palmer Street, the Hippodrome, plague prevention in Camperdown, decorations and illuminations of the Town Hall and City streets, the Domain Baths, and the Dawes Point Battery.

Council began taking photographs of City buildings in 1900, apparently at the instigation of the City Building Surveyor, R H Brodrick. Most of the glass plates and all of the flexible negatives appear to be the work of Milton Kent, a commercial photographer who worked for Council until the late 1930s.

The practice of taking photographs of condemned buildings seems to have ceased in 1931. The other albums in this series deal with resumptions and Council buildings.

The prints from these glass negatives were pasted into albums and numbered consecutively from 1-1638, for the Condemnation and Demolition Books, and 1 to the end for each of the other albums covering specific buildings. (For example, the Queen Victoria Building photographs are numbered 1-179, the Hippodrome from 1-119). The glass plates were given the same number as the prints and placed in boxes. Both albums and boxes were labelled the same, as "Condemnations and Demolitions", Alterations and Additions QVM Building, etc.

In an interview with Des Cramp, a former Council employee, who worked in the Planning and Building Department, he remembers that by the 1960s the glass plates were looked after by the Plans Custodians of the Planning and Building Department. They were stored in wooden boxes on top of steel cabinets in Block A, the Council administration building that was demolished to build Town Hall House. If someone took a fancy to the boxes or needed a new toolbox, they would dump the glass plates in large bins out the back, and remove the boxes. Des remembers the glass plates of the Hippodrome photographs being lost in this way. The feeling at the time was that the prints still survived so it did not matter if some of the negatives were destroyed. (Telephone interview with Des Cramp, 21 May 1996).

In 1971, the Mitchell Library began acquiring photographic negative collections from local councils. Des remembers putting the surviving boxes of glass negatives in the back of a Council ute and driving them up to Macquarie Street. He kept some of the glass negatives and gave them to the Sydney City Library on 25 May 1977. Some of these appear to have ended up in the working papers of Eric Russell, a historian who was appointed in 1976 to write a history of the Council (See CRS 849). It seems likely that the glass negatives that were part of his papers were borrowed from the Library and never returned. Both of these sets of estrays are now back with the rest of the collection.

The Mitchell Library renumbered the negatives, usually placing a small sticker over the original Council sticker, with the new Mitchell Library number above, and the original City Council number underneath. Des Cramp said that some of these had fallen off before they were given to the Mitchell. They were kept by the Mitchell in their original wooden boxes.

The Mitchell Library only acquired photographic negatives, so the albums remained with Council, probably with CA 8, City Planning and Building Department, and later with the Sydney City Library in their premises at the Queen Victoria Building. Ken Smith eventually removed the albums to the custody of the Archives, probably around 1978. Because the Mitchell Library had custody of the negatives and it was their policy at the time not to loan material back, Ken arranged for them to be microfilmed by Chris Weir, Council’s Reprographics Officer, in 1980. (CRS 116, 19.16.0050 and telephone interview with Chris Weir and Ken Smith, 21 June 1996). This means that for some of the prints there is an original glass plate negative and a 35mm microfilm negative. In a few cases where a good quality negative was required for reproduction, there is also a 4"x 5" copy negative made from the original photograph.

On 31 August 1995, the glass plates were returned to Council custody by the State Library of NSW. (CRS 326, A06-00082). Some of the glass plates are negatives of photographs that have gone missing, and the Archives is organising for reference copies to be made.

When the glass plates were returned, it was decided to restore them to their original order, clean them, and rehouse them in polypropylene boxes. The Mitchell Library stickers and the original City Council stickers were left in place. The top number is the Mitchell Library number, and the bottom number is the original number. In cases where there are two numbers, the first part refers probably to a box number they arrived in at the Mitchell, the second number is the original City Council number. The original wooden boxes have been retained by Archives.

The glass negatives that were received from the Sydney City Library and the Eric Russell accession that had no original number, were given the same number as their print in the albums.

A spreadsheet showing the original number, the Mitchell Library number, and the microfilm number has been prepared by Archives.
Relationship summaryCREATED BY: City Engineering and Building Surveyors Department AG-0061 (01/01/1928 to 01/01/1936)
CREATED BY: City Architect and Building Surveyors Department II AG-0016 (01/01/1936 to 01/01/1971)
CREATED BY: City Architect and Building Surveyors Department I AG-0078 (01/01/1900 to 01/01/1928)
RELATED TO: Demolition Books AS-0051 (01/01/1900 to 19/10/1937)
RELATED TO: Management of parks and reserves AY-84 (01/01/1900 to 01/01/1937)
RELATED TO: Ceremonial events and civic occasions AY-56 (01/01/1900 to 01/01/1937)
RELATED TO: Management of sports facilities, swimming pools, recreation and community centres AY-37 (01/01/1900 to 01/01/1937)
RELATED TO: Health inspections of premises AY-33 (01/01/1900 to 01/01/1937)
RELATED TO: Resumptions of land AY-26 (01/01/1900 to 01/01/1937)
RELATED TO: Management of Council property AY-19 (01/01/1900 to 01/01/1937)
RELATED TO: Refurbishment and restoration of heritage buildings, structures and sites AY-17 (01/01/1900 to 01/01/1937)
RELATED TO: Electric power reticulation and supply AY-11 (01/01/1900 to 01/01/1937)
RELATED TO: Electric power generation AY-10 (01/01/1900 to 01/01/1937)
RELATED TO: Disposal of waste by punting, tipping or destruction AY-8 (01/01/1900 to 01/01/1937)
RELATED TO: Construction and maintenance of buildings and structures AY-1 (01/01/1900 to 01/01/1937) LanguageEnglish (eng)

Photograph

Box

Access

Public access statusOpen to public access

Identification and Arrangement

Source system ID936System of arrangementNumerical

Digitisation

Digitisation statusPartially digitised

Relationships

CollectionDemolition Books - Glass NegativesDemolition BooksRelated seriesDemolition Books - Albums and Prints, 1900-1949Creating agenciesCity Architect and Building Surveyor's Department ICity Architect and Building Surveyor's Department IICity Engineering and Building Surveyor's DepartmentRelated activitiesConstruction and maintenance of buildings and structuresDisposal of waste by punting, tipping or destructionElectric power generationElectric power reticulation and supplyRefurbishment and restoration of heritage buildings, structures and sitesManagement of Council propertyResumptions of landHealth inspections of premisesManagement of sports facilities, swimming pools, recreation and community centresCeremonial events and civic occasionsManagement of parks and reserves

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Demolition Books - Glass Negatives, 1900-1937