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In Sydney, the first road to radiate out of the city to the west became known as Parramatta Road, and it was hewn out of the undergrowth by convicts within two years of settlement in 1788. Many modes of traffic proliferated, and the road became an essential part of the economy of the city. The mercantilists and the small family shopfronts followed, and by 1865 Parramatta Road was a burgeoning thoroughfare. The vast majority of the terraces and shopfronts that strip Parramatta Road today in the inner west, were built between 1850 and 1914.
Their age, and our lack of respect for them, is showing.
12 comments:
Hoseriery & Lingerie ... It's a long time since I've seen those signs Julie, and how I wish we still had those wonderful old haberdashery shops jam packed with reels of cotton .. zippers in all sizes ...pots & pans dangling from the rafters!
I guess Adelaide's equivalent shopping road would have been Rundle Mall which in the Eastend section has still retained some of its original facades.
I love finding this type of place. I picture the family who used to run it. The signs are fantastic.
don't get me started on the neglect of these older buildings... shameful.
(but, I love the signage on this one)
It's sad so many are neglected or abandoned.
Posts like this are very interesting to me. I've only spend a few days of my life in Sydney and it was a long time ago. You give us insight into a great but relatively young city.
There used to be some interesting shops on Parramatta Road up to Broadway. Pretty much all gone now.
That is interesting I didn't realise the history there. I've always thought of Parramatta Rd being synonymous with car sales yards . It is a shame they couldn't be brought back to their original state and become a tourist attraction or a yuppie shopping area or coffee shop strip. Bonds, I used to work for them in the textile lab.
excellent post, julie.
I think I agree with Dianne B, better a tourist attraction than abandoned storefronts. It must have been lovely in its heyday.
K
The old shopping strips are very sad looking I agree. You see them in the city, you see them in the country but in the country towns they've been replaced by nothing not by shopping malls. Just empty evidence of one better days that are unlikely to ever return.
I like the shot, Julie. Looks almost HDR-like.
Brillant shot Julie despite the rundown shopfront.
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