Corner Shop

90 Darling Street, c.1860

This former bootmaker’s shop, almost twenty years later than the humble Waterman’s cottage down the hill, shows far greater refinement and attention to detail, from the dentillated brick chimneys to the rusticated stone quoins and elegant cast-iron balustrading. The façade is perfectly symmetrical, and there is a restrained use of ornamentation, for example in the use of tiny brackets (corbels) to support the generous stone windowsills.

The ground-floor walls are of stone, and the first floor walls are brick. The use of different wall materials is common in Balmain’s early colonial buildings, with expensive stone used for an impressive street facade, and cheaper materials (brick or timber) for the less visible side or rear walls.

The relatively plain cast-iron balustrading, and flat openwork iron columns are typical of the 1860s: later in the century the more ornate ‘iron lace’ replaced this earlier, simple style.

The original roof has been replaced with modern tiles.