Property Advert of the Week: 3 Tranmere Street, Drummoyne (1971)

Below is an advertisement for apartments in a three storey unit block located at 3 Tranmere Street, Drummoyne.

Source: Multiple Real Estate Pty. Ltd. 1971. "Drummoyne: Must Built Home Units" (Advertisements). The Daily Telegraph, June 12: 44. 

One bedroom apartments were on sale for $16 500 (equivalent to $183 000 in todays money) while a two bedroom apartments were available for $23 000 (equivalent to $255 000 in todays money).

Domain has listed sales of units in recent years and one apartment sold for $821 000 in 2014.

Price equivalents in todays money were sourced via the RBA Inflation Calculator.

Property Advert of the Week: Birkenhead Quays (1999)

Below is an advertisement from 1999 promoting apartments in the Birkenhead Quays complex at Birkenhead Point.

Source: Kevint Project Marketing. 1999. "Birkenhead Quays" (Advertisement). The Sydney Morning Herald, April 17: 31RE (Real Estate Liftout).

Property Advert of the Week: Parkview, Drummoyne (1971)

Lets head back to 1971 where $21 000 scored one an apartment with views over Iron Cove.

Click here to see the complex as viewed from the street today.

Source: Burridge Dodd Real Estate Pty. Ltd. 1971. "Parkview" (Advertisement). The Daily Telegraph, May 8:56.

NEVER BUILT SYDNEY: Drummoyne's Towering Giants (1970)

Drummoyne doesn't have anything exceptionally tall at all but in 1970, there was a proposal to build major highrise apartment towers at Birkenhead Point. This would have resulted in the demolition of the Dunlop Tyre Factory buildings that would later become the Birkenhead Point Shopping Centre.

The tallest tower was to rise 42 levels (left of picture) or about 8 levels shorter than Australia Square in the Sydney CBD.

Princess Properties International was to develop the site. Apart from providing apartments for 3000 people, there would also be office, motel and retail space included. In addition, a ferry terminal and marina would be built on Iron Cove.

  

Source: Anonymous. 1970. $50 million complex near harbor". The Daily Telegraph, July 25: 1 & 8.

It may have never got off the ground, but we did manage to keep the original Dunlop Factory Buildings and that would form the Birkenhead Point Shopping Centre, one of Sydney's major outlet shopping centres.

Photos taken by the Author.

SYDNEY TRANSPORT: Opening of the Gladesville Bridge (1964)

Photo was taken by the Author.

This year the Gladesville Bridge turns 50, and at this stage looks like it will be celebrated with little fanfare. Those who drive over it know little about its engineering feats at the time which makes it a special bridge. Did you know that at the time of completion, it was the longest concrete arched bridge in the world? The longest span is 305 metres while the length of the bridge itself is 579 metres.

But why was the bridge built? It was built to replace a bridge just 300 metres to the west, which would link what is currently Huntleys Point Road at Huntleys Point with Victoria Place at Drummoyne. The bridge itself opened in 1881.

Source: Star Photo Co., Company. Year Unknown.


It could only carry one lane of traffic in each direction plus a tramway. It had a section that could be swung open to enable taller ships to sail through. By the 1950s there were mechanical problems which would stop the bridge from closing. Add in urban growth and increasing use of the car by the growing populace and there was a problem.

The original Gladesville Bridge struggled to cope with increased traffic movements as this image from 1962 shows.

Source: Department of Main Roads. 1962. Accessed August 19 2014, http://www.ozroads.com.au/NSW/Freeways/GladesvilleBr/16.JPG.

Meanwhile, there were plans to build a freeway running west from the Sydney CBD through Gladesville and the North Shore to link what is now the Pacific Motorway (M1) and north-west Sydney (The Castlereagh Freeway which evolved into the current M2 motorway). The bridge itself would form a section of the future freeway like the nearby Tarban Creek bridge which was completed the following year (1965).

Here is how the press covered it all the way back on October 2, 1964, when it was officially opened by Princess Marina. Despite the engineering achievements, it had to compete for attention amongst other news stories at the time. It was reported that 6000 attended the opening before being opened to traffic for peak hour. The Daily Telegraph reported congestion on the bridge and approaches occurring that evening in its paper the following day (October 3).

Source: Anonymous, 1964. "6000 see bridge opened: Ceremony by Marina", The Daily Mirror, October 2: 3. 

The Sydney Morning Herald was the only paper that provided special coverage of the opening. It produced a special supplement focusing on road projects in NSW and focused on the bridge itself. I have decided to share an illustration that they produced of its construction.

Source: Anonymous. 1964. "Much Work On Design." The Sydney Morning Herald, October 2: 14. 

The original Gladesville Bridge no longer remains but two of the spans remain; one each on each side of the Parramatta River.

The span itself

Photo was taken by the Author.