Australian Consolidated Industries Ltd.
Glass and Modernism in Australia in the Thirties
Gordon Turnbull
“We are living in the Glass Age, just as surely as our primeval forebears lived in the Stone Age. The infinite versatility of glass…the ease with which it can be adapted to a multiplicity of purposes…places it in the very forefront of constructional materials.
We live in an age when girls have dived from glass springboards; crowds have stared at thumbprints hanging in mid-air until they learned that they were looking at “invisible” glass…”1
In an age when we take glass for granted it is difficult to imagine the excitement of the inter-war years when the medium came to the forefront of technical innovation. Today we are accustomed to seeing skyscrapers clad entirely in glass, and products using advanced glass components, and it is hard to imagine a relatively recent time when glass was used predominantly for small paned windows and modest drinking vessels. As we also live in a period in Australia when the large scale manufacturing of certain types of domestic glass products has all but ceased or has reverted to an arts and crafts type industry, it is difficult to imagine that there was once a time when a dynamic industry manufactured a myriad of high quality and well designed glass products for architectural, scientific and domestic purposes.
While Australia was a net importer of glass in 1900, by 1939 the value of local production was five times that of imports. In fact, by 1938, the Australian Glass Manufacturer’s Company, an important component of A.C.I., manufactured a greater variety of glassware than any other company in the world, producing some 9,634 types of bottles and containers alone. 2. The company boasted that it could supply the entire needs of the country. 3. Whilst tariff protection partly explains some of the success of the company in this period, its success was also due to a culture of innovation that encouraged the company to develop and import new technologies, allowing it to economically produce short production runs in a wide variety of products for the relatively small domestic market. In the period 1913 to 1939, AGM acquired proprietary rights to 175 innovations to improve production. Of these, 45 were generated internally by AGM in an innovative environment favoured by management. Also during this period the Australian Tariff Board considered 16 applications for tariff protection by AGM, and only one of these resulted in a reduction in tariffs.4. This high level of tariff protection was also accompanied by a bold, high risk strategy of importing and developing new technologies by the company.
The origins of A.C.I. can be traced to1866 when Messrs. Felton and Grimwade who were wholesale chemists erected a small furnace in Port Melbourne. They employed English glass blowers to manufacture glass bottles. About the same time a small glass bottle factory was established by Mr. Joseph Ross on the site of the Darling Harbour Goods Yard in Sydney. This business was later moved to Camperdown near Sydney. As the country developed, and due to increased competition from overseas suppliers, a larger operation was called for. Australian Glass Manufacturers Company was established in 1916 through consolidating a number of smaller manufacturers. The company greatly expanded in the early 1920’s, employing some 2,260 people by 1925, and over 6,000 by the late 1930’s.
By 1935, AGM operated plants in all Australian states and in New Zealand, making it one of Australia’s earliest manufacturing multinationals. The company was vertically integrated in that it designed and constructed its own furnaces and also manufactured its own forming equipment, transmission systems and fibreboard packaging. By the early thirties it had become the first Australian producer of flat glass, and was the sole producer until Pilkington Bros. Ltd. entered the market in 1936. 5. AGM then embarked on a programme of diversification by modifying some of the processes used in the glass business to produce rigid moulded plastics, items such as table lamps, stools, trays, radio cabinets, and even aircraft components.
In 1939, an important new development became necessary as parts of the company had expanded to such an extent that they became large enough to be treated as independent businesses. Sixteen proprietary companies were formed and operated as separate entities under the A.C.I. umbrella covering the areas of glass manufacture (both industrial, architectural and decorative) plastics, metal forming (building materials, tools) packaging and insulation. Some of the subsidiaries formed are briefly described below.
Australian Window Glass Pty Ltd.
This major A.C.I. subsidiary produced plain sheet glass and figured rolled glass for architectural applications. It also produced the famous Insulux Glass Bricks in a range of patterns and sizes and Flushlite lighting fittings. Bent glass for curved windows used extensively in the late 1930’s was also a speciality of this company.
Crown Crystal Glass Pty. Ltd.
Crown Crystal Glass was the artistic subsidiary of the company producing table and kitchen glassware, coloured water sets, Agee Pyrex ovenware, display stands, commercial and domestic lighting ware, table lamps, standard lamps, as well as chromium, metal and glass smokers’ stands, tables, furniture etc. Traditional cut crystal wares produced alongside more adventurous modernist designs.
A.C.I. Engineering Pty. Ltd
A.C.I. Engineering Pty. Ltd. Operated plants in Melbourne and Sydney produced machinery, moulds, dies, lathes as well as many components used in aircraft.
Australian Glass Manufacturers Company Pty. Ltd.
A major subsidiary that produced glass containers in over 10,000 designs as well as glass tubing used extensively in Neon signage. The company also produced medical equipment, in particular ampoules which were manufactured in Australia for the first time in 1938.
Dott and Company Pty. Ltd.
This important Melbourne subsidiary of A.C.I. produced the glassware needs of laboratories, technical departments and specialised industries. The company produced the type of glassware in which mechanical precision was combined with the personal skill of expert craftsmen.
Bernard-Smith Pty. Ltd.
Produced structural steel and heavy girders used in major building projects- “the steel demanded by modern buildings and bridges”
A.C.I. Fibre Packages Pty. Ltd.
This subsidiary was responsible for the cartons and containers required for the packaging of A.C.I. products as well as those required by other industries.
A.C.I. Plastics Pty Ltd.
This subsidiary produced everything from bottle caps to radio cabinets, from lipstick cases to refrigerator accessories, from cups and saucers to light fittings, aircraft parts and toilet seats. The modernist design aesthetics was probably most apparent in this enterprise with its streamlined range of products.
A.C.I. Metal Stamping and Spinning Pty. Ltd.
This subsidiary developed to cater for the metal caps that were necessary when the cork was replaced as the means of capping a glass container. Not only was it necessary to produce these caps or lids, but also to imprint them with attractive designs and insignia. Gradually the facilities were required for more ambitious projects so that by the late 1930’s this plant was engaged in the production of lighting fixtures and other components of decorative illumination.
The Modern Image of A.C.I.
In the 1930’s, the modern face of A.C.I. was displayed in their buildings – offices, showrooms and factories, with obvious pride. The Australian Glass Manufacturer’s Building (1937) at 420 Spencer Street, Melbourne which contained both offices and a showroom for glass products was designed by the leading commercial architects in Melbourne of the period H.W. and F.B. Tompkins. This building, which has recently been the subject of a conservation battle, is faced in buff cement stucco and features a black ceramic and vitrolite glass veneered base. The massing of the building is angular and symmetrical, and a raised central feature terminates in a flagpole. Glass bricks are used in long vertical panels on the corners as well as in the central tower feature, although the whole composition of the façade aims at a horizontal flow.
While the Melbourne building, although modern, owed much to symmetrical art deco monumental design of the twenties, the A.C.I. headquarters at 52-58 William Street in Sydney (1940-42) by the architects Stephenson and Meldrum was a bold exercise in international modernism. Its character, and the spirit of innovation and excitement of the period, is best revealed in the description offered in its opening brochure “The House that Glass Built”.6
“Towering gracefully at the foot of William Street, is the new State Headquarters of ACI – a new addition to the dignity of Sydney’s architecture.
This is the house that glass built! By day it glimmers and glows contentedly in the sunlight; at night it becomes a pillar of colour – its soaring glass brick walls still living when other walls are dead.
Before you go inside this nine-floored building, ask a question or two about the frameless main door. It is made of glass: of glass strong and unsplinterable; armour plate glass which will bend but not break. And the floor over which you enter is glass also! But look up at the face of the building. See those beautiful mosaic tiles? Glass again – used for the first time on a complete exterior. Throw your head back and look at the pavement awning. There are glass domes inset to light the footpath.
Now go inside. Ahead of you as you enter the ground floor showroom is a decidedly unusual elliptical stairway to the glass balconied mezzanine.
Now- up in either of the high speed automatically operated elevators to the mezzanine floor—a charming setting for Crown Crystal lighting fittings, architectural glass, and chromium furniture. When you stroll around the centre balcony you are walking on glass. Glass bricks, too, form the internal partitions.
Up further now to the second floor to see the display of pressed glassware and to inspect the well-designed offices of Crown Crystal Glass. The third floor provides convincing evidence that ACI intends to provide its visitors with exceptional comfort. There is a charmingly furnished lounge complete with writing tables, and even a sound proofed glass bricked dictation room –with stenographers available for those who prefer to “talk” their correspondence…
On the third floor also are the Director’s offices and the Board Room – interesting examples of dignified efficiency in the modern manner.
Another step forward in the march of A.C.I.!”
The Australian Glass Manufacturers Company factory in Dowling Street, Waterloo, Sydney (1941) also displayed the streamlined modernism of the period. Built on a corner site, it arose from a jumble of Edwardian factory buildings in brick and corrugated iron sheeting. A curtain wall comprising five dramatic bands of uninterrupted horizontal glass bricks defined the floors of this immense building. This horizontality was slashed at the corner by a vertical tower emphasized by vertical bands of glass bricks, and carrying the company name A.G.M. This building has recently been refurbished as a part of the residential redevelopment of this inner city industrial area.
My personal interest in A.C.I. was aroused in 1992 when I purchased a home in the Melbourne suburb of North Caulfield. . The house had been designed by the architects H.W. and F. B. Tompkins for a Mr. and Mrs. Smail in 1938, and was changing hands for the first time. The modernist theme was also evident internally, as the house contained furniture and light fittings in chrome plated steel and glass that attested to a bold modern aesthetic in Australian design. These fittings and furniture had been manufactured by Crown Crystal Glass Pty. Ltd.
Mr. Smail was a Director of Australian Consolidated Industries, and he aimed for his house to be a showplace for some of their products. The company boasted that it catered for “the vogue for combining chromium with glass – in everything from smokers’ stands and display accessories to lighting ware”. The modern image of his company, and their notable modernist commercial buildings, particularly the headquarters at 420 Spencer Street influenced his decision to build his own residence in this style by the same architects.
My home, “Learmonth”, a two- storey brick house was constructed on a prominent subdivision created through the demolition of the Victorian era mansion “Molonga”. It was designed in the modern manner, and at ground level displays the typical characteristics of the “moderne” style of the late thirties, albeit in the slightly clumsy and typically Australian interpretation of pure European modernism. The prominent features at ground level are the glazed bull-nosed projection of the living room, and the sweeping corner window of the dining room capped with a horizontal band of contrasting concrete to add horizontal emphasis to the design. These projections with flat concrete roofs form the basis for two of the three balconies accessible from the first floor. These balconies feature low horizontal balustrades composed of wide bands of wrought iron designed in a simple yet rhythmical pattern.
Internally the house also compromises its “modernism” in favour of numerous decorative art deco features such as wide cornices, an elaborate wrought iron stair balustrade, a tall sandblasted stair window, decorative light fittings, built-in furniture and flush panel doors faced in Queensland walnut. Barry Humphries has commented on the pristine European modern houses of the thirties “with their flat roofs and corner windows…white and serene standing beside birch forests and lakes” and the clumsy interpretations his father and other builders created in Melbourne. As he has so succinctly put it they are “the chubby colonial relations of their austere German cousins in Dessau and Stuttgart”. 7
Australian Glass Manufacturers supplied all of the glass products used in the building of “Learmonth” which includes the curved glass sections used in the windows, numerous panels featuring sand-blasted designs usually based on a nautical theme, tinted stepped mirrors over the fireplaces, vitrolite engraved panels, glass bricks, and some remarkable lighting fixtures more reminiscent of the ocean liner or cinema foyer than of a suburban house.
The Products of A.C.I.
The link between a healthy lifestyle and sunshine was reflected in the domestic architecture of the thirties. A northerly orientation embracing sunlight was considered desirable, and windows became more plentiful and larger. As well, curved streamlined effects that enhanced horizontality became desirable in more expensive residences, producing a series of rounded corner windows forming a waterfall façade (albeit a horizontal one), or a prominent semicircular protrusion (called a “bull-nose”) from the living room. The A.C.I. division, Australian Window and Glass Pty. Ltd. responded to this fashion by producing bent glass sections available in any size. “Bent glass assists the trend towards bold curves in modern architectural design” advised the promotional literature.8.
The “Agee” glass brick, named for the initials of Australian Glass, was introduced in the mid 1930’s and became fashionable for curved glass brick stairwells, glass brick feature walls, and entrance hall illumination.
The quest to be modern resulted in commercial/industrial type building materials such as glass bricks being used domestically.
Barry Humphries has commented on this trend.
“In the very late thirties, if the client was especially rich and daring and my father able to procure enough glass building blocks and aubergine-coloured ‘manganese’ bricks he would build them a ‘jazz moderne’ house with curved corner windows, a flat roof, a nautical-looking sun deck and no front fence” 9.
Eighteen types of hollow glass bricks were produced by the company, creating dramatic “walls of light”. For example the Prevost House (Sydney Ancher, 1937) in Bellevue Hill featured a steel- framed front door set into a wall of glass bricks. This dramatic style of entrance was also achieved at the Seabreeze Hotel, Tom Ugly’s Point, N.S.W.
“everywhere glass bricks are being use for their beauty-the sparkling, brilliant beauty of glass-and for the sound practical advantages they offer. For this modern masonry is light-transmitting…floods interiors with abundant, glare-free, natural day-light. It is, too, simple to erect and compares favourably in cost with other good quality masonry”. 10.
Also produced were sheets of figured rolled glass in a variety of designs-some simulating bubbles, ripples, waves, or crystalline surfaces. These were employed in window glazing, sometimes for decorative effect, but often for reasons of modesty such as in the bathroom. They were also used in cabinetry, especially in the kitchen.
The domestic glass products produced by the A.C.I. division Crown Crystal during the 1930’s appear to be varied in both style and in quality. Stylistically, two distinct influences can be found, one modernistic, the other traditional. Modern designs derived from Continental art deco were produced, items such as vases and bowls featuring geometric sweeps and curves, or heavily moulded with vertical stepped pylon shapes. Others featured classic art deco motifs of the period such as stylized leaping deer. These wares were produced in amber, pink, and lettuce green as well as clear glass, and on occasions the colour was applied externally through frosting. These products are usually of indifferent quality and were manufactured to compete as a cheap alternative to expensive imported Continental glass such as Lalique, Etling and Sabino.
The Crown Crystal quality range, introduced in 1932, comprised cut lead crystal named “Grimwade” a name resonating with high society connotations in Australia and named after the earliest founders of A.C.I.. The “Grimwade” range featured traditional patterns of “chequered cut”, “star cut” and “cross cut” crystal with the occasional finial or knob suggesting the influence of art deco. All items were hand cut using a high speed carborundum wheel by skilled artisans. Occasionally the angular forms also suggested the modern age in which they were created. Items produced in this range included vases, tumblers, glasses, powder bowls, perfume bottles to more exotic items such as clock cases, cocktail shakers and electric table lamps. Most examples had the name “Grimwade’ etched on the underside. The “Grimwade” range was promoted in the up market magazines of the period including “The Home”, “Art in Australia” and “The BP” (Burns Philp magazine for a leisured travelling class), and were greatly favoured as wedding presents. The Australian Glass Manufacturers own magazine “Decoration and Glass: A Journal of Architecture” also promoted the “Grimwade” range. The 30’s and 40’s were a period in which most homemakers aspired to owning a crystal dressing table setting, crystal salad bowls and crystal water sets. “good crystal…really good crystal… is the essence of refinement and taste” read an advertisement of the time.11. One advertisement from 1933 depicts Jocelyn Howarth, a popular Australian actress, seated at a dressing table with “Grimwade” accoutrements. For those with less to spend, Crown Crystal also produced cheap moulded glass items imitating their cut crystal range. It is ironic that today, the stylish art deco range of medium quality moulded glass items command far higher prices in the antique trade than do the conservative but higher quality, hand cut “Grimwade” lead crystal range, which is generally viewed as being conservative and unattractively old fashioned.
By the late 30’s, the demand for modern furniture had increased in Australia in order to complement modern streamlined architecture.
A.C. I. responded with a range of avant-garde products combining glass with chromium plated steel, veneered timber, and plastics. In particular, occasional tables, traymobiles, and smokers’ stands were produced, as well as a range of modern light fittings. These designs occasionally approached the refined functionalism of the European Bauhaus, but were usually more elaborate. A typical product was an occasional table consisting of a glass top that was ornamented with “grave” (engraved) lithe, art-deco inspired figures or animals supported on a simple chromium plated steel base. My own home, which was once owned by an executive of A.C.I. as previously mentioned, features standard lamps produced by Crown Glass Industries comprising a circular chromium base supporting a walnut veneered column culminating in chrome plated metal arms supporting tinted glass shades. The modernist flush ceiling light fittings in my home were also produced by this company. Sections of curved sand blasted glass are set into a large cylindrical metal frame from which protrude horizontal fins of pink tinted glass, and a large disc of plate glass is supported at the base. Changing the light globes in these fittings is not for the feint hearted! Fittings similar to these were produced for many hotels and theatres of the period by the company – the elaborate lighting scheme at Railway House Wynyard Square, the Manly Steyne Hotel, the Trocadero Ballroom, The Australia Hotel, Sydney are some examples.
During the war years, the manufacture of “luxury” items ceased. When it became difficult to purchase china cups and saucers, Crown Crystal produced a range of glass cups, saucers and plates. These were available in amber, green and clear glass, and were of simple functional design with shallow fluting. Being of thick moulded glass, they lacked the refinement and delicacy of the German Bauhaus “Jenaer” glassworks counterparts, designed by Wilhelm Wangenfeld. An advertisement of the period promoted their superior hygiene as well as their artistry, as well as appealing to the public’s sense of patriotism with a society hostess proclaiming that “I wouldn’t change my GLASS tea cups for all the tea in ‘China’!” 12. These items are little desired today, and although produced in the austerity of the war years are associated more with the period of the depression in the public imagination.
Another functional and popular product was the Agee Pyrex range of cooking ware that included casserole dishes, pudding dishes and baking dishes. These dishes were promoted on the basis of their hygiene and cleanliness, another preoccupation of the era, and promised to preserve the delicate flavours during cooking, as well as being suitable as tableware.
In the immediate post war period the company expanded and diversified, with plants being established in south-east Asia. In 1973 Crown Crystal Glass merged with Corning Glass works of the United States and appears to have become an importer of domestic glass products rather than a manufacturer. At this time the market became flooded with cheap imported domestic products from Poland, Czechoslovakia and China. This business was sold in 2000.
In 1998 the ACI glass and plastics business was acquired by Owens-Illinois, Inc. of the United States. Under this ownership ACI continues to produce beer and wine packaging, and also manufactures a wide range of food and other beverage glass containers through nine glass plants and two mould shops in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and China. 13.
Today we can only imagine the excitement and spirit of optimism of a period when there existed in Australia a diverse, dynamic and innovative Australian-owned glass manufacturing industry, when the possibilities of glass were described thus “its force is creative; its future endless”.14.
Bibliography
1. Looking Backward and Forward through Glass, Sydney, Australian Consolidated Industries, 1942.
2. Made in Australia: an illustrated record of Australian manufactures endorsed officially by the Associated Chambers of Manufactures of Australia, Sydney, John Fairfax and Sons, 1938, p.44.
3. Australia 1788-1938. Sydney, Simmons, 1938.
4. Fountain, Helen. Technology Acquisition, firm Capability and Sustainable Competitive Advantage: a Case of Australian Glass Manufacturers Ltd., 1915 – 39, p.103.
5. Fountain, Helen. Technology Acquisition, firm Capability and Sustainable Competitive Advantage: a Case of Australian Glass Manufacturers Ltd., 1915 – 39, p.103.
6. The House that Glass Built, Sydney, Australian Consolidated Industries, 1942.
7. Humphries, Barry. More Please, Ringwood, Penguin Books, 1993, p.17.
8. Made in Australia: an illustrated record of Australian manufactures endorsed officially by the Associated Chambers of Manufactures of Australia, Sydney, John Fairfax and Sons, 1938, p.46.
9. Humphries, Barry. More Please, Ringwood, Penguin Books, 1993. p.17.
10. Australian Window Glass Advertisement. Art in Australia, May 23. 1940, p.98
11. Advertisement, “Grimwade” Crown Crystal Glass, Decoration and Glass, April 1939, cover.
12. Crown Cups Saucers and Plates BP Magazine Summer Number, 1st. December, 1941
13. About ACI Packaging http://www.acipackaging.com/
14. Looking Backward and Forward through Glass, Sydney, Australian Consolidated Industries, 1942.
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