Clinton Cole risked it all when he purchased a run-down Surry Hills restaurant at the height of the pandemic, with plans to turn the space into his architecture firm’s new office.
But a secret hidden within the walls of the unassuming building would turn the $2.5 million bet into one of the highlights of his career.
Cole was none the wiser to the piece of Sydney history “frozen in time” beneath the tired facade of the shopfront.
Clinton Cole’s decision to buy 466 Cleveland Street was the biggest risk of his career, but it’s paid off in spades.Credit: Janie Barrett
Likely to have been constructed in the 1880s, the commercial building on the corner of Cleveland and Nickson Streets is a modest example of the boom style. The look was popular in the late 1800s in Melbourne, but was also common in Sydney, says Cameron Logan, an architectural historian at the University of Sydney.
At some point in the mid-1900s, the building’s owner opted to cover up the original glass signage facade for a more modern and practical, but less visually pleasing, look.
Luckily for Cole, that owner had the foresight to preserve the facade.
“What was incredible was how careful the person who had installed those cover panels had been to ensure the nails were perfectly pinned to not cause damage to the glass signage,” Cole said.
As Cole and his team removed the panels above the restaurant sliding doors, what they found was a perfectly preserved shopfront, with original copper-clad Australian red cedar frames and gold-gilded Flemish glass signage.
The hidden text revealed the storefront was once home to C. L. Wagner Newsagent and Stationery. The exterior advertised that the shop carried toys, leather goods, books and The Sydney Morning Herald.
With the inspiration for the shopfront’s design now handed to him, Cole said the harder task was finding craftsmen with the expertise to return the nearly 150-year-old building to its former glory.
Only the top third of the facade was preserved, so Cole brought in a custom window manufacturer to work on a new design for the bottom two-thirds that emulated the original boom style. They used recycled timber from a demolished pre-war house to capture the heritage feel in the addition.
For the restoration work, a long search found a hobbyist in the Blue Mountains with the rare skills needed to restore the gilded plate glass.
It’s expensive and meticulous work, but Logan says more building owners are opting to preserve or resurrect historical character, even if they’re not obligated to under heritage law.
“It’s an interesting trend. People want to connect to those memories and the former lives of those commercial strips.”
It’s proven true for Cole, with passers-by dropping in to remark on the beauty of renovation and share their joy in a small piece of Sydney’s charm.
“This was certainly one of the most amazing finds of my 25-year career. That it happened on my own project, I feel very lucky indeed,” Cole says.
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