former Rootes Motors, Port Melbourne

This building on Fishermens Bend, the largely industrial part of Port Melbourne developed around the outbreak of WWII, is the former Australian factory for the British motor manufacturer Rootes. I remember it as a storage facility for KMart and now the western end of the building is home to Melbourne Indoor Paintball.

The building was built around the end of WWII and the national Archive of Australia holds two excellent photos of the building from 1945. Search for Image Number L1647 for a view of the building from ground level while L1849 is an aerial view showing the extent of the factory at that time.

You will have noticed the flagpole, an Art Deco steadfast, but if you look closely at the face of the other wall in the first photo you'll also find another Art Deco steadfast, a clock.

Unfortuately everything is painted in a two-tone Mission Brown selection which does the building no favours at all. It looks like it may have been white or cream or perhaps even grey in 1945.

I was pleased to see the original gates, or at least one of them, still in place. Rusted in place actually, but it does show the Art Deco design and I can only image how good they looked 60 years ago.