Hi, it’s Adrian Bo, and today I’m on Arcadia Street in Coogee where there is a very interesting background story to a small metal plate embedded in the pavement outside of number 39. The plate itself is very discrete and very innocent in nature, but it is inscribed with the name of a company called Latimer’s, which has its headquarters located at 280 Castlereagh Street in the city. And you could easily miss this metal plate if you were walking along Arcadia Street today. The story behind the plate is that during the 1920s on this very site, there was once what we would know and recognise as a Petrol Bowser. Back during that time, though, the gas service station didn’t exist for the general car population. Roadside pumps became popular later as an add-on to mechanic garage businesses. As you can imagine, giving the public confidence that the pump was measuring petrol accurately was very vital, and a Sydney engineer called Frank Hammond designed a petrol pump to do exactly that. It was called, and this is quite a mouthful, the Visible Volumetric Hammond pump. Now Hammond claimed an accuracy of within eight drops of petrol. In 1927, the English RF installed Hammond pumps in their range of garages.

In Australia, Latimer’s Visible Petrol Proprietary Limited company became the manufacturer for these pumps, hence why the metal plate says Latimer’s. The pump that stood here on Arcadia Street at Coogee would have been one of Frank Hammond’s Visible Volumetric pumps. Just as Frank Hammond had invented the pump for the Australian and UK markets, the American market had their own invention of a similar product by the name of a guy called Sylvanus Bowser. Now that surname is a word that sounds very familiar. Mr. Bowser’s surname became so popular around the world that all global petrol pumps, including now here in Australia, developed the generic name of the Bowser instead of what could have been the Hammond or the Latimer’s. Interestingly, 39 Arcadia Street has a very interesting history as it is a heritage listed building due to the fact an original house was built here in 1863 by Charles Moore. Charles Moore was the LM of Sydney during 1867 to 1869, and even Moore Park was named after him. The name of the home here at 39 Arcadia Street was called Ballamac and it dominated the North head land for many, many years.

 It became a hotel called the Baden Baden in the 1800s for a while then reverted back to a single residence until it was strata titled in 1978 by the surviving family of a very colourful local character, Dr Reginald Stuart-Jones, a renowned surgeon, and it was renamed at that point Hastings House. I actually recall selling a unit in this building at 39 Arcadia Street, being unit number two and that was four years ago in 2016, for a record price at the time of $1,170,000. The tradition and the character of the building lived on as it was owned by an academic, who I sold it on behalf of, and the buyer ended up being a local artist. The academic that owned it was here for over 30 years. The unit itself had a very quirky sand stone feature wall and an internal mezzanine, which is quite unusual for art deco apartments, and that attracted many buyers that worked in the creative space. A few doors away at 29 Arcadia Street known as Roslyn was originally built in 1887 and is also heritage listed, and was the Boom style mansion that hit the news headlines about five years ago when it was put on the market for the first time in 60 years. The owner, Mr. Burak, had passed away having bought the house in 1955 for $12,000 and barely made any changes since that particular day. It eventually changed hands for $4 million after several months on the market.

Now, Arcadia Street has 129 units, one townhouse, and 29 houses, with 55% of residents on Arcadia Street being owner occupiers, and 45% of its residents being renters. The average owner occupier in Arcadia Street has been living here for eight years and four months, which is above average for Coogee and in Sydney generally. Our agency recently sold 4 at 33 Arcadia Street, also 7 at 33 Arcadia Street, and a block of apartments at 31 Arcadia Street. I sold apartment 3 at 97 Beach Street around the corner for $1,060,000, as well as apartment 16 at 178 Beach Street which is also within very close proximity, and that’s in the iconic Tara complex and I sold that for $1,295,000. I also sold apartment 2 at 160 Beach Street close by and also 2 at 5 Major Street, literally just here around the corner overlooking Gordon’s Bay. Now I hope that’s been of interest to you. And when you walk down Arcadia Street next time on your way to the beach, please, don’t forget to check out the metal Latimer’s plate in the pavement outside number 39. And relate the story to your friends how the Bowser could have easily been referred to as the Latimer. It’s great Australian history that we should keep alive especially when it’s on our own doorstep here in Coogee. It’s an international piece of history, in fact, which all started here in our own very backyard. Enjoy the wonderful early summer sunshine, and the buildup to Christmas, and always remember your home is worth more with Adrian Bo.