11/02/2026
✨ JQ Building Spotlight ✨
This month, we take a deep dive into the history of 25 Frederick Street, exploring its industrial past and its present as
Built in 1888, this warehouse was commissioned by the Berndorf Metal Company on the site of earlier workshops that formed part of the Regent Works, originally established in the 1820s by button-maker William Elliott.
The new building replaced those earlier structures with a carefully planned complex, combining warehousing, offices, and a large first-floor showroom. Designed by Douglas J Williams, it reflects a shift away from on-site manufacture. The absence of cast-iron workshop windows and the scale of the storage areas suggest the building was primarily used for packing, distribution, and sales, with metal goods manufactured elsewhere.
Constructed in orange-red brick and arranged on an L-shaped plan, the short arm facing Frederick Street housed offices and the showroom, while the longer arm was devoted to open-plan warehousing across multiple levels, with additional storage in the basement.
A small enclosed yard once stood at the front of the building, and a cart entrance on Regent Street led to a rear courtyard, now roofed over. Above this entrance was a caretaker’s house, with a stable and hayloft at ground level, reflecting the practical needs of a late nineteenth-century commercial building.
Although plans were approved in 1889 for a smelting house and chimney in the yard, there is no physical evidence that these were ever built.
