Summary

Black and white silver gelatin photograph, view north along the roadway between Building 4 Roll Film on the left and Building 7 Testing on the right, shows the progress of the building construction, Kodak factory, Coburg, January 1958.

The early stages of the construction of Buildings 2 & 3 Emulsion Making & Coating can be seen in the far background.

Building 4 (which appears to be completed externally and being fitted out internally) was typical of the structural style used in many of the manufacturing buildings throughout the complex, that is, single-storey, low profile, steel columns and steel trussed roofs with brick outer walls allowing large open spaced interiors with air-conditioning and other local services installed in the central ceiling space. This meant that any internal walls and divisions were light weight and non-load-bearing and could easily be altered to match changes to manufacturing workflows.

While Building 7 (which appears to be partly constructed) followed similar construction internally, its special architectural features created a completely different vista for the public view from Elizabeth Street. A two-storey section (the rear of which is shown here) in the centre of the building served as a ground floor entrance and management offices above while an aluminium framed facade on the single-storied eastern face hid the roofline. This required the other single-storey brick walls of this building shown here to match the height of the front facade, again hiding the roofline.

Kodak manufactured and distributed a wide range of photographic products to Australasia, such as, film, paper, chemicals, cameras and miscellaneous equipment. Its client base included amateur and professional photographers as well as specialist medical and graphic art professionals who used photography, x-ray and other imaging techniques.

This photograph is part of the Kodak collection of products, promotional materials, photographs and working life artefacts collected from Kodak Australasia in 2005 after the manufacturing plant at Coburg had closed down the year before.

Description of Content

View of a streetscape at a construction site. A single storey building on the left appears to be completed outside, while a single-storey building with a double-storey section in the middle is still under construction. In the far distance, the first stages of steel work for another building is under way. Two men in office clothes are walking north along the road while a building worker can be seen on the left. A steel trussed tower hoist can also be seen on the left.

Physical Description

Black and white silver gelatin photograph printed on light weight paper, landscape format.

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