Industrial Cathedral

Industrial Cathedral
"Industrial Cathedral" charcoal on paper 131 x 131 cm Jane Bennett. Finalist in 1998 Dobell Drawing Prize Art Gallery of NSW Finalist 1998 Blake Prize Winner 1998 Hunter's Hill Open Art Prize

About Me

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Sydney, NSW, Australia
I'm an Industrial Heritage Artist who paints "en plein air".If it's damaged, derelict, doomed and about to disappear, I'll be there to paint it.
Showing posts with label Pyrmont Arms Hotel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pyrmont Arms Hotel. Show all posts

Tuesday 28 July 2020

In the pink -the former Pyrmont Arms Hotel, Harris Street Pyrmont

The former pub 'The Pyrmont Arms' was at 42-44 Harris Street, Pyrmont on the corner of Harris and Bowman Streets.
Built in the 1870s,it closed in the early 1990s when the CSR refinery and distillery were progressively shut down and demolished to make way for the Jackson's landing development. Since then, it has been renovated as retail outlets, restaurants and home units.

P248 The 'Pyrmont Arms' from the CSR 1
1990 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm
I first painted the Pyrmont Arms Hotel as a bird's eye view from the roof of the CSR refinery.I had been the 'Artist in Residence' at the CSR Refinery from the late 1980s to the start of its demolition in the mid 1990s. I had previously been painting at the top of the Panhouse, but one day in a fit of bravery I decided to paint from the top of the Boilerhouse next to the chimneys.
The CSR boilerhouse is now the site of the 'Elizabeth' apartment block of the Jackson's Landing LendLease development.
The Pyrmont Arms Hotel was then still an operating pub and was painted a grubby faded pale pinkish beige. On the back of the pub's western side facing the Scott Street squats, there was a huge ad for 'Have a cold gold KB', unfortunately not visible from my rooftop studio. Across the road was the brick facade of the CSR chem labs.
It didn't stand out from the rest of the rather dingy terraces at the 'Land's End' of Harris street, but what caught my eye was the contrast between the terraces and the overgrown area around the squats that was rapidly turning into a wilderness. I painted a small square canvas focussing on just the Pyrmont Arms, and resolved one day to paint a panorama of the northern end of Harris Street from this vantage point.

P249 'Pyrmont panorama- from the CSR '
1991 oil on canvas 46 x 92cm
A few months later, I climbed the many levels of revolting, sugar syrup encrusted stairs to the top of the CSR boilerhouse again, to paint this panorama, and was startled to find that the formerly almost unnoticeable pub had succumbed to a brash attempt at 'renovation'.
Weirdly, it shared the same revolting shade of pink with another dying pub at the other end of Pyrmont, the 'New York Hotel' in Edward Street, opposite the Pyrmont Power Station.
This fluoro paint job was such a product of its time that it defined the late 1980s to 1990s, a period without style or taste. I remember leggings and jumpers in that same fabulously horrid "glow in the dark" colour, possibly an over-reaction against the ochres and browns of the 1970s. In architecture, it was known not very fondly as "Paddington Pink" or "Paddo pink" for short, although the examples in Paddington itself were much more muted.

P248B 'The 'Pyrmont Arms' from the CSR 2'
1991 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm
It made the Pyrmont Arms stick out like a sore thumb from the dingy red brick warehouses and bond stores, and not in a good way.
I don't know if it was still an operating pub then or whether the new paint job was a desperate last ditch attempt to attract customers or preparation for its sale and possible redevelopment.
For the truth was that the pubs of Pyrmont were hanging by a thread. Their customers were gone with the destruction or relocation of the local industries that had employed them, and the industries of Pyrmont's future were yet to replace them.
The CSR Refinery and Distillery, which had replaced the sandstone quarrymen of northern Pyrmont a century before, was almost deserted and would be demolished and replaced with Jackson's Landing by the middle of the decade. But there was a strange interregnum before the new apartments were built and filled with inhabitants, and the northern end of Harris Street was a ghost town.
The iconic Terminus Hotel, only 2 blocks further up Harris Street, had already ceased trading a decade before, and stood abandoned, neglected and a constant source of speculation for the next 30 years, before its very recent renovation. How the 'Royal Pacific', later to be rechristened the 'Pyrmont Point'/ 'Point Hotel', ever kept on trading is a much bigger mystery that any of the urban myths swirling around the 30 year vacancy of the Terminus.
What is it with the lurid colour schemes inflicted on moribund pubs?
Far from Pyrmont, another doomed hotel, the 'Jolly Frog' also got the pink treatment not long before it suffered one of those mysterious fires that afflict abandoned buildings.
They must have used the same colourblind painter and decorator. And he must have got the paint at a huge discount, or it might have 'fallen off the back of a truck'.
Either way, it didn't work. All closed as pubs not long after.

P248C '42 Harris st -ex Pyrmont Arms'
2012 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm
The 'New York Hotel' has been painted a tasteful off-white, and is now a medical centre, of all things!
'The Pyrmont Arms' has now been painted a dull blue on the ground floor and a muted yellow for the upper floors. It is no longer a hotel, but has been reasonably sympathetically renovated and is now a combination of apartments above and a bottle-o below.
And the Jolly Frog, 6 years after its devastating fire, is still awaiting redevelopment.

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Friday 24 January 2014

Paintings of Pink pubs - Painting the Jolly Frog Part 2

Another painting of the "Jolly Frog" before the fire.
I've just read the excellent historical notes on theself-guided Windsor Heritage Walks, that I found in the Macquarie Arms Hotel.
I painted this view from the site of the Windsor Barracks and Guardhouse opposite.
According to the guide "in 1818 a substantial brick barracks accommodating up to 60 soldiers was completed on this site by Richard Fitzgerald. The foundations of the guardhouse constructed in 1830 at the entrance to the barracks were unearthed by roadworks in 1976 and the site preserved. The guardhouse consisted of 3 small cells which were used for the confinement of subordinate soldiers. The site was surrounded by a high wall, remnants of which survive today. The barracks and guardhouse were demolished in about 1928 to make way for the construction of a police station and lockup."
plein air oil painting of the abandoned hotel "Jolly Frog" in Windsor by artist Jane Bennett
WJF4 'The 'Jolly Frog' from the foundations
of the Military Barracks
 2013 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm
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Whenever I painted the "Jolly Frog" I found myself thinking about Edward Hopper's paintings, while listening to the Buena Vista Social Club on my mp3 player.In Edward Hopper's paintings, encroaching shadows express the tension between nature and culture, and past and present.
Although roads are typically associated with the noise, speed, and rapid change of modern life, this scene is curiously still and silent.
I've finally tracked down the Edward Hopper painting that I feel it most resembles " Early Sunday Morning" 1930.
After crossing the Fitzroy bridge over South Creek, for a minute I thought I had arrived at a sleepy Cuban shanty town. The shabby facade of the "Jolly Frog" painted like a block of liquorice allsorts , a combination of sublime architecture and gorblimey colour evoked the streets of Old Havana.
I've always wondered about the inspiration behind the surprising and lurid colour schemes of moribund pubs.
For comparison, I have included 2 of my paintings of the ex-pub "The Pyrmont Arms".
plein air oil painting of the "ex Pyrmont Arms" in Pyrmont by artist Jane Bennett
"P248A The 'Pyrmont Arms' from the CSR 2
1991 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm

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The pink paint job is startling enough on the close up bird's eye view study I painted from the roof of the CSR boilerhouse (now the 'Elizabeth' apartment of the Jackson's Landing LendLease development)
But just look at how it sticks out like a sore thumb amongst all the dark decaying bond stores and warehouses!
plein air oil painting of the "ex Pyrmont Arms" in Pyrmont by artist Jane Bennett
P249 "Pyrmont panorama- from the CSR 2"
 1991 oil on canvas 38 x 76cm
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Same fabulously horrid "glow in the dark" shade of "Paddo pink", but a very different fate was in store for the ex- Pyrmont Arms Hotel. It is no longer a hotel, but has been reasonably sympathetically renovated and is now a combination of apartments above and a bottle-o below.
The real mystery is how the "Terminus Hotel" a block further south in Pyrmont has so far escaped. The Terminus has been derelict since the mid 1980s, and must surely be a candidate for the Guinness Book of Records for the longest existence as a derelict building without having suffered a mysterious fire. If you're interested in its strange history see my posts in this blog "To the Point" , "Looking over the overlooked" and "A tale of Two Pyrmont Hotels"

Update
plein air oil painting of the abandoned hotel "Jolly Frog" in Windsor by artist Jane Bennett
WJF4 'The 'Jolly Frog' from the foundations
of the Military Barracks
 2013 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm

Enquiries

















 
Past and present at the Jolly Frog, 26th January 2014
plein air oil painting of the abandoned hotel "Jolly Frog" in Windsor by artist Jane Bennett
WJF4 'The 'Jolly Frog' from the foundations
of the Military Barracks
 2013 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm

Enquiries
 Past and present at the Jolly Frog, 26th January 2014
plein air oil painting of the abandoned hotel "Jolly Frog" in Windsor by artist Jane Bennett
WJF5 'The 'Jolly Frog' (there's nothing...)
 2013 oil on canvas 25 x 31cm
Private Collection : Windsor
Enquiries

Related posts

See my page of Pyrmont paintings

Friday 10 February 2012

Both sides of the street - My new exhibition "St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst"

Hanging my exhibition St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst
Enquiries about these paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

exhibition of plein air oil paintings of Sydney by industrial artist Jane Bennett
Hanging my exhibition St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst
Enquiries about these paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

exhibition of plein air oil paintings of Sydney by industrial artist Jane Bennett
Hanging my exhibition St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst
Enquiries about these paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com
exhibition of plein air oil paintings of Sydney by industrial artist Jane Bennett
Hanging my exhibition St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst
Enquiries about these paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com


exhibition of plein air oil paintings of Sydney by industrial artist Jane Bennett
Hanging my exhibition St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst
Enquiries about these paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com


exhibition of plein air oil paintings of Sydney by industrial artist Jane Bennett
Hanging my exhibition St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst
Enquiries about these paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

exhibition of plein air oil paintings of Sydney by industrial artist Jane Bennett
Hanging my exhibition St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst
Enquiries about these paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com
In this exhibition I have hung 16 paintings of Victoria Street.
As the Xavier Art Space is a long corridor, I decided to add another 16 or so paintings of other inner city streetscapes.
Most of these other paintings whether of Pyrmont, White Bay, Surry Hills, Darlinghurst or Waterloo seem to be of pubs or former pubs. Derelict pubs like the Terminus, recently closed pubs like the Hopetoun, pubs that were burnt down in the dead of night under mysterious circumstances like the White Bay Hotel, or pubs that had a narrow escape from these fates and are enjoying a precarious Renaissance like the Iron Duke. There are also 2 paintings of the half-demolished Carleton United Brewery.
A minor irony was that Dr Robert Graham, who had kindly agreed to open my exhibition, was the head of Drug and Alcohol Treatment. Another minor irony is that I am (and have always been) a teetotaller.

exhibition of plein air oil paintings of Sydney by industrial artist Jane Bennett
Hanging my exhibition St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst
Enquiries about these paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

exhibition of plein air oil paintings of Sydney by industrial artist Jane Bennett
Hanging my exhibition St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst
Enquiries about these paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

exhibition of plein air oil paintings of Sydney by industrial artist Jane Bennett
Hanging my exhibition St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst
Enquiries about these paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com


exhibition of plein air oil paintings of Sydney by industrial artist Jane Bennett
Hanging my exhibition St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst
Enquiries about these paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

All of the paintings in this exhibition were painted "en plein air". Most of the art of other plein air painters concentrates on the natural environment and seems to be painted in a field or a wood. I prefer to paint inner city urban landscapes and all my art that hasn't been painted on a wharf, a ship or a demolition site, is painted by the side of the road.
"By the side of the road " is the common idiom, however this road was actually a street. "On the road" sounds almost romantic, evoking the ghost of Jack Keroac, whereas "on the street" has an air of desperation. I am often "on the road" when I paint - my car is a mobile studio with a fold-up table and chair and a French box easel in the boot at all times. I am not a "street" artist in the sense of a graffiti artist such as "Banksy", as I take my paintings home when I have finished painting them, although I bet that I spend a lot more time actually painting in the street. According to one definition Street Art  is traditionally unsanctioned  as opposed to a government funded initiatives . The artist attempts to have their work communicate with everyday people about socially relevant themes by placing their work in non-art contexts. In that sense, my art is definitely "street".

Many years ago a witless journalist stunned me into silence during a radio interview. After hearing a description of how I explored Sydney's urban landscapes outdoors instead of painting in my studio from photos, he turned the interview into farce by describing my art as  "streetwalking".
English can be a dangerous language full of traps for the unwary.
The word "street" I discovered has some odd quirks of meaning aside from its obvious use as a word for a paved thouroughfare. Some of these carry a lot of pejorative nuances.

Definitions of "Street"
  1.  a situation offering opportunities ("He worked both sides of the street")
  2.  as a depressed environment in which there is poverty and crime and prostitution and dereliction ("She tried to keep her children off the street")
  3. The people who spend a great deal of time on the street in urban areas, especially the young, the poor, the unemployed, and those engaged in illegal activities.
  4. (slang) Street talk or slang. 
  5. (figuratively) a large amount ("He's streets ahead of his sister in all the subjects in school.")
  6. (poker slang) Each of the 3 opportunities that players have to bet, after the flop, turn and river.
  7. Illicit, contraband, especially of a drug:e.g. "street drugs". 
  8. not in prison, or released from prison. ("He's on the street again after leaving Long Bay jail")
  9. Without a home; without the means to afford good shelter.
  10. without a job or occupation; idle.

The term "street" is used with the preposition "in". Something is "in" the street, but "in" or "on" the road. To be "on the street" means to be living an insecure life, often one associated with homelessness or crime. To "hear something on the street" means to learn about something through rumor.
In the Middle Ages, a road or way was merely a direction in which people rode or went, the name street was always reserved for the built road.
The "Man in the street" meaning the ordinary non-expert person, is first recorded in 1831. Street-car is first recorded 1862. Street-walker "common prostitute" first recorded 1590s. Street people is first recorded 1967; street smarts is from 1972; and street-credibility is from 1979.

  The good and bad points of the urban environment are captured by the many meanings of the term "street" . It carries a feeling of fast-paced opportunity, reality and authenticity - but also uncertainty, edginess, decay and even a whiff of danger.

All the photos in this post were kindly taken by Frances Keevil, Director of the Frances Keevil Gallery, who also did most of the work hanging my show
Update

The redoubtable flaneur and photographer Julie of "Sydney Eye" took some great photos at the opening of my exhibition which can be seen at "The poof factor"

Thursday 24 March 2011

UPtown Festival 2011

The 30th Pyrmont Ultimo Festival
Saturday 19th March 2011
The industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett exhibiting her Pyrmont paintings at the 2011 Pyrmont Festival
The Pyrmont- Ultimo UPtown Festival 2011
Photo is courtesy of Jeffrey Mellefont,
Australian National Maritime Museum.

Quarry Green is a charming little park between Quarry St and Bulwara Road behind Harris St Ultimo. Its most famous landmarks are the church and tne pub, which lie close to the border between Pyrmont and Ultimo.
The festival began modestly thirty years ago, when it was started by two enterprising local residents, Debra Berryman and Olga Reader, as a simple get-together to unite the small local community. Since then, year by year, the UPTown Festival has witnessed the Ultimo Pyrmont precinct’s remarkable re-birth and transformation from a quiet, post-industrial area in the early 1980’s, with a population of under 2000, to today’s thriving business, media and education centre, with a dynamic, multi-ethnic community of around 20,000.
I had displayed some of my many paintings of Pyrmont and Ultimo in previous UPtown festivals, but always inside the church hall which made them difficult to see. This time I was given a large tent and a prime position outside the local community's favourite watering hole, the Lord Wolseley. This delightful old pub, at the northern end of Quarry Green on Bulwara Road, is one of the narrowest in Sydney, but makes up for that in 'character'. Its interior boasts a bullet hole left in the pub mirror by Neddy Smith, who had rather shakily aimed at the bartender during the 1980's gangland wars. Those were the days!
Despite the heavy rain the festival drew a large crowd-the organizers estimated that there were over 4,000 people attending. I caught up with lots of people I hadn't seen for years and met many new residents who were interested to see what their suburb used to look like.The tent sheltered my 40 paintings and 2 large drawings, attached with cable ties to the 14 easels I had again borrowed from my long suffering mate John from the Australian Society of Marine Artists. Lots of people helped me lug the easels from the Mustard Seed Centre where they were stored.
The paintings in this photo are some of my more recent Pyrmont artworks. In the foreground is the "Carpentaria and the James Craig" from just outside Wharf 7, and above it are 2 views of Jacksons Landing from Glebe Island Wharf and a painting of Pyrmont from the East Darling Harbour Wharves.

For more information see My Pyrmont page in this blog

Related posts
Looking over the overlooked-Urban decay in Pyrmont
To the Point
Wrong side of the tracks - Darling Island Bond and Free
Pyrmont Paintings past and present
Paintings of Pink pubs - Painting the Jolly Frog Part 2 

Not the Writers Festival- Exhibition of Pyrmont Paintings by Jane Bennett at 2013 Pyrmont Festival
We like sheep - Waite and Bull Building 137 Pyrmont Street
Marine art exhibition at Australian National Maritime Museum
Pyrmont Sandstone - The Lizards of Oz

Tuesday 14 December 2010

My paintings in the Xmas Exhibition at Camden Fine Art Gallery :

My Paintings for sale in 'Sydney Harbour and Country Links'

My Paintings will be for sale in the annual Xmas exhibition at Camden Civic Centre (Undercroft), Oxley Street, Camden, on 14-18 December 2010. 


A preview of some of my paintings on display in this exhibition:

Sydney Harbour Ferries

marne art, Sydney Harbour Bridge with Sydney ferry 'Charlotte'  oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
The 'Charlotte' arriving at Milson's Point Jetty 
2009  oil painting on canvas 25 x 25cm
Sold
Enquiries about similar paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com
marne art, Sydney Harbour Bridge with Sydney ferry 'Charlotte'  oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
The 'Charlotte' departing from Milson's Point Jetty 
2009  oil painting on canvas 25 x 25cm 
Sold
Enquiries about similar paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

Sydney Harbour Bridge by day and night

'Sydney Harbour Bridge Panorama- day' 
2009 oil painting on canvas 31 x 61cm
Sold
Enquiries about similar paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com
'Sydney Harbour Panorama- evening' 
2009 oil painting on canvas 31 x 61cm
Enquiries about this painting:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com
"Some pubs with no beer"

Paintings of 2 ex-pubs, once favourite wharfie watering holes at the northern end of Harris st, Pyrmont. The 'Pyrmont Arms' has now been redeveloped as an apartment complex and a boutique wine cellar. The aptly named 'Terminus' remains abandoned and derelict to this day.
 
streetscape, old pub in Pyrmont, 'Pyrmont Arms', oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
'The Pyrmont Arms from the roof of the C.S.R.' 
1990  oil on canvas 31 x 31 cm
Enquiries about this painting:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com


Painted from the roof of the CSR Boilerhouse, CSR Refinery, Pyrmont. This was during the 'Pyrmont Arms' Hotel's last days as a working pub.
streetscape, old pub in Pyrmont, 'Pyrmont Arms', oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
The ex- pub 'The Pyrmont Arms' 
1992  oil on canvas 31 x 31 cm
Enquiries about this painting:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

A later chapter in the afterlife of this shabby old pub. Also painted from the roof of the CSR Boilerhouse, CSR Refinery, Pyrmont.
streetscape, old pub in Pyrmont, 'Pyrmont Arms', oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
'The ex- pub 'The Pyrmont Arms' from the CSR Boiler house' 1992 oil painting on canvas 40 x 80 cm
Enquiries about this painting:

This was also painted from the roof of the CSR Boilerhouse, CSR Refinery, Pyrmont. In the foreground are the rusty tin roofs of Bond Stores (now replaced by "Sanctuary Sanatorium') and the CSR Chem labs (now replaced by a vacant block, awaiting development of the last block of Jackson's Landing by Lendlease)
streetscape, old pub in Pyrmont, 'Terminus Hotel', oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
'The Terminus- pub with no beer' 
2010  oil on canvas 31 x 31 cm
SoldEnquiries about similar paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com
Once a notorious bikie HQ, this picturesque vine covered ruin on the corner of John and Harris streets has been derelict since 1992.
The rumour mill has it that the Terminus was closed after the only son of the manager was shot. I have heard that it is owned by an odd couple with a penchant for collecting a portfolio of down at heel properties in similar condition, which to this date have not yet been redeveloped.
Why it has been derelict for 18 years remains a disquieting mystery.

For more information about my Pyrmont paintings :
My Pyrmont page in this blog 

 Update
This exhibition has now closed
Enquiries about my paintings: