Holden Retirees Club

 Holden's Motor Body Builders in Sydney.

(By Neil Pogson)

McLachlan Avenue, Rushcutters Bay.

175 Dowling Street, East Sydney

182 William Street, East Sydney

168 William Street, East Sydney

173 Dowling Street, East Sydney

Holden House reopened.

Photographs

References

 Holden's Motor Body Builders Ltd became  registered as a company in March, 1919. Until then, they had officially operated in Adelaide under the banner of Holden and Frost, although they publically styled themselves as HMBB since 1917.

The new company had Capital of £50,000 in 50,000 shares of £1 each. The stated Objects of the Company were : “To purchase from Henry James Holden freehold lands in Adelaide, machinery, motor car stock, etc., and carry on the business of Motor Body Builders and upholsterers, to purchase, hire or otherwise acquire and make or manufacture railway carriages and wagons, etc.”

As business started to grow rapidly, it was decided to open assembly branches in Sydney and Melbourne. Bodies would be built in Woodville and shipped to the interstate plants, where they would be joined to locally assembled chassis constructed from kits sourced from overseas.

They started in Sydney and Melbourne, being the largest markets for their cars.

The manager appointed to run the Sydney end of the business was the nephew of H. J. Holden and brother of James Robert Holden, Captain Leslie Holden, a celebrated returned Airman.

[As Lieutenant Leslie Holden of the Australian Flying Corps he saw distinguished service, being awarded the Military Cross in 1918 for valour in low level bombing and strafing of the enemy.  He ended his tour of service with five victories to his name.

 Promoted to Captain in March 1918, he was awarded the Air Force Cross, promulgated on 3 June 1919, for his skill as an instructor.

On his demobilisation in August, 1920, Holden joined Holden’s Motor Body Builders, but continued his love of flying. In 1929 he successfully undertook an aerial search of the north-western Australian wilderness to locate Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm, after the pair had gone missing on a flight from Sydney to England in the Southern Cross.

In September 1931, he is credited with making possibly the first flight from Sydney to New Guinea. On his return, he started his own airline, Holden Air Transport Services. 

He met an untimely death in September 1932, in a crash at Byron Bay when travelling as a passenger on a commercial flight.]

McLachlan Avenue, Rushcutters Bay.
The first mention of HMBB Sydney in available sources is an advertisement which appeared on 20th February, 1920, when they were located at McLachlan Avenue, off Bayswater Rd, Rushcutters Bay.  Sands Directory for 1921 shows HMBB were located on both sides of the street. There are no street numbers mentioned, so the exact locations are not known. 

There are a number of advertisements for HMBB in McLachlan Ave through 1920, typically offering Motor Car Re-painting, Body Repairs, New Hoods fitted, envelopes and side curtains; Makers of Standardised Dodge Motor Bodies, Spare Parts kept in stock.  Their last advertisement at this location was published on 18th February, 1921.

Entries in 1925 and 1926 Sands Directories mention HMBB were also 22-24 Barcom Avenue, Rushcutters  Bay, which runs parallel to McLachlan Ave on the West side. Nothing has been found about this site, as yet, except that advertisements show that in February 1926 the site was then occupied by John McGrath used car sales department. The 1927 Sands shows John McGrath as occupiers.

Given that Sands entries are usually prepared the year before, it is probable that HMBB were at Barcom Ave in 1924 to 1925, which coincided with the building of the new William St premises (see below) and relocation, so it is likely that the Barcom Ave site was used as a sales/storage area for the transition period. No advertising for HMBB at that site has been found.

175 Dowling Street, East Sydney

 A new advertisement on 27th Feb 1921 announced they had ‘removed’ to new premises at 175 Dowling St., ‘close by’ their current premises – “30 yards from William Street, City, opposite Federal Laundry, lately occupied by Garrett’s Motor Works” (until two weeks before). They boasted of twelve “Up-to date Glassed-in Varnish Rooms”.

Again, there were many published advertisements offering similar services to those previously mentioned.

On 5th April 1922, there was a small fire reported on the premises, which started amongst oily rags.  (Spontaneous combustion of varnish and lacquer soaked rags was a constant hazard in the early paint shops).  There was little damage, and it is reported that the premises were insured for £100,000.

182 William Street, East Sydney

They continued in business in Dowling Street, when on 23rd January, 1924, Holden’s announced they would be shortly “opening new works costing approximately £20.000. This new and up-to-date equipment, which is adjacent to the old works, will enable them to handle about 200 cars a week in Sydney. The bodies will be made in Adelaide, but the' chassis will be completed in Sydney.  Mr. E. W. Holden, Managing Director of Holden's Motor Body Builders Limited, stated that the demand for bodies was greater than ever, and they anticipated turning out during the next week, well over 600, and hoped to pass the 700 mark in the near future.”

This new works was located at 182 William Street, City, which was literally around the corner from the old works, and abutted to it and to a laneway, Judge Lane, behind them. 

Holden's works now occupied a large area, with two floors facing Dowling Street, with a car entrance in William Street. The building extended back to Forbes Street, and had three floors fronting that street. The bottom floor was occupied by the Morris Service Station, while a small section of the building was occupied by Williams Brothers garage.

The William Street part (“Holden House”) was described as being "numbers 176 to 188 William St, with a frontage of 90 feet consisting of five shops with flats over, and two basements".

The date of the actual move over to William St is not apparent; in March 1924 HMBB were still advertising services at Dowling Street but in November, were advertising for a boy for William St. So the new premises were apparently occupied sometime in mid-1924.

The workers went on strike on 5^th May, 1925 over demands that HMBB sack 16 non-unionists that had been hired recently.  It was announced on behalf of the management that the trouble was due solely to the employment of the non-unionists. This was done by the company by advertisement, after it had been ascertained that no men were available at the union office.

At a conference with Union leaders, it was agreed the cause of the dispute had been the objection of the union to the employment of Assemblers as Body Makers.  Mr. E. W. Holden gave an assurance that he had no wish to establish such a practice, the way to settlement was open.

Terms were agreed upon, and these were accepted by a meeting of the men held at the Trades Hall. Work resumed on the morning of 8^th May.

On 3^rd March. 1927, disaster struck the motor Works.  A ‘Great Fire’ consumed all the premises, making it virtually a total loss. The first reports proved to be quite exaggerated, saying that there were 500 completed motor cars totally destroyed by the flames. This was later reduced to 75 cars plus up to 100 chassis.  Newspaper accounts vary – for example, one stating a 300 gallon Petrol tank blew up, another saying it was lucky it did not blow up. It was actually a Paint/oil store that blew, the Firemen concentrated on keeping the Petrol tank secure and intact. The many cars did have petrol in their tanks, which did feed the flames.  The original damage estimate was £200.000, but a week later was said to be more like £100,000.  Either way, it was disastrous for Holden’s Motor Body Builders.

The fire also destroyed or badly damage the surrounding buildings, including the flats in Holden House, which had to be evacuated. Resident in adjoining building took fright and many moved valuables out into the street to avoid any chance of being lost in flames.  However, two women then lost valuable fur coats and jewellery to thieves while they were preoccupied with the blaze.

The cause of the fire was almost immediately blamed on spontaneous combustion of rags in the Paint Shop.  However, reports surfaced on 10^th March of a man who had been seated nearby in his car at the time of the fire, and observed two men run from the building and get into a car with no number plates and drive hurriedly away.  Shortly after, flames were observed.

Possibly related was another discovery made after the fire was out, that an attempt had apparently been made with some suitable Instruments to open the safe at Holden's, but had failed. Whether this was anything to do with the two fleeing men, or rather that one or two of the great crowd that still gathered after the fire possibly thought that Holden's safe was filled with cash, was never determined.

On being advised of the fire, Mr. E. W. Holden, chairman of directors, immediately left for Sydney to arrange for the continuity of the business.  He said “There should be no marked dislocation of business at the works, as only Assembling was done there. About 100 men were employed and there should be little difficulty in obtaining rented premises to enable an almost immediate resumption of work. The plant in the Sydney works was not of great value as compared with the machinery used at the Woodville (S.A.) works. The bodies were built in South Australia and shipped to New South Wales, where they were placed on chassis.”

168 William Street, East Sydney

True to his word, an announcement was made next day (4^th March) that the business would be temporarily relocated to 168 William St.  This premises had a chequered history itself, having been previously used by Dalgety Ltd for Bean Cars in January, and by Thornycroft for their trucks in February.

A series of advertisements appeared throughout March for on-site Auction sales of various items of equipment (Lathes, drills and small tools, etc.), around 30 vehicles and many vehicle spare parts.  The owner of Flat 5 on the second floor of Holden House held an Auction of her effects on 16^th March, rather than have to store them.

HMBB remained at 168 William Street until sometime after 24^th August, 1927, when the last advertisements appeared for Service there.  By then, Oswalds Garage at 177 Dowling Street had also resumed trading. 

173a Dowling Street, East Sydney

About this time, advertisements also started to appear for men and women for work at Dowling Street, although they were apply at 173a Dowling Street, which suggests that HMBB had now acquired this property as well. Service advertisements for 182 William Street service also now advised motorists to enter via 173 Dowling Street entrance.

A HMBB Shareholders half-yearly meeting on 12th March 1927 was told “the business would be unhampered as a result of the Sydney fire”.

On 25 May 1927, a small, five line announcement appeared saying that HMBB had purchased 40,000 square feet of land at the corner of Nield (sic) and Lawson Streets, Rushcutters Bay for the purpose of building a new factory.

Wasting no time, on June 11th the sale by Auction of the William/Dowling Street site by Auction on 20^th July was announced, later revised to 27th July. Many repeat advertisements appeared over the next six weeks, but the sale was passed in, having only reached a bid of £60,000 against the reserve price of £80,000.

HMBB then determined to rebuild on the William/Dowling Streets site after all.   It is not recorded what eventually happened to the land at Rushcutters Bay, although it ultimately became a residential area.

HMBB rebuilt the workshops and continued to conduct business at the William and Dowling Streets site.  The usual type of advertisements reappeared for Motor repairs and re-painting services etc at William St.

“Holden House”

Meanwhile, Holden House had been razed and rebuilt as a large showroom and service centre.  The official opening was on 24^th August 1928, and was marked by an extensive “Motor Show of Australian Built Bodies” which drew considerable crowds to the new facility.

The Sydney Sun reported: “There were big- bodies and little bodies, whole bodies half-bodies, sporty bodies and stately bodies, streamlined; neatly painted — and all Australian-made.  Green, blue, grey — in fact, all the colours of the rainbow are mingled In luxurious confusion at the Motor Show and Body Display at Holden House, William-street, which was officially opened by the Minister for Labor (Mr. Farrar) this afternoon.

Motorists, potential motorists, and some who probably will never be either, Inspected many makes of cars. They looked longingly at magnificent sedans and coupes with every modern appliance for comfort, and examined inquisitively midget cars which looked smaller than ever beside the biggest models close at hand.

The display synchronised with the opening of Holden House, which has been reconstructed after being gutted by fire some time ago.”

Advertisements of the time boast that a "Body by Holden" was now being fitted to the latest models Austin 10, Buick, Chevrolet, Standard, Plymouth, Oldsmobile, Vauxhall Light 6, Willys "77" and Pontiac, as well as on many of the most popular trucks.

In 1931, the HMBB Sydney works was acquired by General Motors- Holden, as part of the merger arrangements with GM-Australia. HMBB remained in business as a division of GMH.

In 1932, Edward Holden recruited John Storey as manager of the troubled Holden’s body-service division of General Motors-Holden's Ltd, Sydney. Within two years the division was returning substantial profits.

[In 1934 Storey went on to become GMH Director of Manufacturing, based in Melbourne, and joined the board. He investigated the layout of General Motors Corporation's plant at Detroit, U.S.A., in 1935, and supervised the erection of GMH factories at Fishermens Bend, Melbourne (completed 1936), and Pagewood, Sydney (1940)—and the refurbishment of plants in Brisbane and Perth.]

Holden’s Motor Body Builders continued to offer Sales, Motor Car Repairs and Service at this site until the advent of War changed their focus.

In common with the other HMBB/GMH facilities, the work shifted to manufacture of items required by the Armed Services.  In William Street, HMBB made Canvas gun Covers, Canvas Army Gaiters, Trench Mortar Covers, Army Tents and Flies, repairs to US Army vehicles, Reconditioning Australian Army vehicles, Canvas Tool rolls, and the like.

By war’s end, GMH was setting up to produce the New Australian Car project, and decided to rationalise the Company. Sydney, by this time had Pagewood Plant really just starting vehicle production after their war activities, so the separate facility in William Street was seen to be no longer required.

On 11th September 1945, Stack and Co announced that they had bought the “Holden House” premises for £51,000.  Stack & Co. was started in 1935 by William J. (Bill) Stack, who had been GMH’s NSW Sales Manager before becoming a dealer. They renamed the building “Stack House”. The official date of transfer of title was 1 November 1945.

 Photographs:

 References:

(Note: There were many more advertisements for HMBB in local papers than are recorded below.  However, they were repetitive in nature, so only sufficient to illustrate their style and to attest to where HMBB was located at that time, are shown.)