In Hornsby, the historic bakery building, the horse stables and the cobblestones have long since gone, making way for two small car parks. Little is left to remind us of the old bakery, except the phantom smell of warm, freshly baked bread that wafts across the noses of those who can remember!
Source: Max Bolton and Hornsby Historical Society – Hornsby Shire Recollects
Food has always brought people together. Unfortunately, COVID-19, kept people apart and it was during the pandemic that this project was conceived.
Since 1896, Coronation Street has been known for the smell of freshly baked bread. Now, it’s the smell of freshly roasted coffee, pizza, kimchi and other culinary delights. Coronation Street has been synonymous with food in Hornsby for over 120 years. This rich and delicious history has been inspiration for this Coronation StrEat project. Food would no doubt bring us back together after the pandemic had ended.
Judge’s Bakery Ghost Building and Plaza
Corner of Coronation Street and Jersey Lane Hornsby
Funded as part of the NSW Government’s COVID recovery initiatives and delivered by Hornsby Shire Council, Judge’s Bakery ghost building and plaza was constructed in 2022-23 around a semi-mature Angophora costata (Sydney Red Gum) and gives a nod to the passing of time since a bakery first operated on this site in 1896. The project repurposed a portion of an existing carpark on the corner of Coronation Street and Jersey Lane to create a new, permanent micro plaza.
Architectural drawing of the concept for the ghost structure. Source: Brewer Architects
Inspiration
Anchored firmly in the idea of invoking a sense of place based on the past and shared memories, the structure that now stands at No. 1 Coronation Street is a 1:1 scale replica of the frame of the original 1896 building which once stood here and was home to a bakery for over 70 years. Coronation Street is part of the earliest shopping precinct in Hornsby. For more than a century the shops have continued their original use and have retained the form and some of the finishes of the original structures. Dine in, dine out
Designed to create a public place for people to enjoy take away dining opportunities from the local businesses in the precinct with an adjoining public carpark offering 2P parking to support visitation and custom. The carpark has been designed with catenary lighting to provide a place to host both day and night pop-up community activations and events.Rest, rehydrate and repair
The plaza has a variety of seating options to grab a bite to eat or take a rest, a water refill station to rehydrate (including a bowl for your pooch) and a bike repair station to keep your wheels in good condition for your next adventure on the Activation
The flexible design of the space provides opportunities for pop up day or night celebrations, food trucks, outdoor dining, farmers markets, live music and other activities for all to enjoy. If you would like to book the space for an activation, click on the link below.
Public Art Murals
Funded by the NSW Government and delivered by Hornsby Shire Council, a series of seven public art works were commissioned and delivered in the precinct in 2022 and 2023. Take a wander through Coronation Street, Beattie Lane, Jersey Lane and Jersey Street and discover some of the local stories behind these amazing pieces.
Coronation Street Hornsby
Completed in April 2023 the mural is painted on thin slats - painted off site in the Artist’s warehouse in Sydney’s Inner West and then attached to Judge’s Bakery ghost building to create the western facade of the structure. Watch the timelapse videos of it taking shape at the warehouse and its installation on site.
Inspiration
Inspired by the old Daily Telegraph clipping of a story about the new workforce of women truck drivers, the above work acts as a contemporary rethinking of an old black and white photo from the national archives – the image depicts a woman truck driver.
The tree, building and sky behind the painted slats will still be visible, giving the painting a soft, transient, ghost like appearance that complements the structure it’s fixed to. The work explores how history becomes blurred over time but is always visible when we look.
1941 'Women Seek Jobs As Breadcarters', The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954), 19 December, p. 5. Source: nla.gov.au
Celebrating women in the workforce post WW2, this style aims to create a contemporary piece that isn’t confined to the traditional aesthetics of historical murals and still feels fresh despite its subject matter.
Artist – Fintan Magee
Scale model of the mural in the Artist’s studio. Source: Fintan Magee
The Artist, Fintan Magee touching up the mural once in place.
Coronation Street Hornsby
Under the Judge’s Bakery ghost building, this abstract work is heavily inspired by the Hawkesbury River and the Shire’s native flora. You can see the bold, brown form of the Hawkesbury River flowing across the wall as it flows across the landscape of the Hornsby Shire.
Beattie Lane Hornsby
In January 2023, Hugues completed a mural on the heritage listed building at 1-3 Jersey Street, representing a patchwork of images of historic events and references of the neighbourhood from the 20th century. The composition is painted in sepia tones in a large trompe l’oeil giving the illusion of a timber noticeboard upon which these images and references are pinned. Local people and community volunteers from Fusion feature in the foreground, painted in a realist style in colour, linking Hornsby’s past with present.
Fusion volunteers pose in front of their likeness with Artist, Hugues Sineux (second from right).
Snippets of historical newspaper articles about Judge’s Bakery can be seen in the mural, along with an image of the bakery’s bread carter and his dray.
The 'Women Seek Jobs As Breadcarters' newspaper article was the inspiration behind Fintan Magee’s mural on the Judge’s bakery ghost building around the corner in Coronation Street.
Images left to right: 1928 'EXPLOSION IN BAKERY', The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1883 - 1930), 28 February, p. 9. Source: nla.gov.au; 1941 'Women Seek Jobs As Breadcarters', The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954), 19 December, p. 5. Source: nla.gov.au; The Artist, Hugues Sineux painting the mural.
The historical images featured in the mural by Hugues were sourced by the Artist via the publication Pictorial History of Hornsby Shire by Mari Metzke. The images can also be found at Hornsby Shire Recollects.
Bread cart from Judge's Bakery, Hornsby, c. 1940
Children's Travelling Library on route to Middle Dural in the vehicle 'Moaning Minna'
Railway Hotel, Hornsby, c. 1920
Hornsby Post Office, corner of Coronation Street and Pacific Highway
Hornsby Railway Station, c. 1900
Image of the Artist’s maquette created on cardboard. Source: Hugues Sineux
You can see more of Hugues’ work in nearby Dural Lane. Completed in 2016 and 2017 Hugues created a vibrant, 200m long trompe l’oeil celebrating Hornsby’s rich, early 20th century heritage featuring Ginger Meggs.
Beattie Lane Hornsby
Completed in August 2023, this abstract design features bright pops of wattle and the beautiful array of colours found in the Hawkesbury Sandstone of the Hornsby Plateau.
Inspired by the wiggle and shape of the Hawkesbury River and its bushland surroundings, this piece is a collage of all of the natural bushland treasures you find in this amazing environment. Artist – Elliott Routledge
Beattie Lane and Coronation Street
In November and December 2022, Fintan completed two murals celebrating locally native, bushland trees of the Hornsby Shire - flowers, leaves and woody capsules (gumnuts). Trees represented include Eucalyptus saligna (Sydney blue gum), Angophora costata (Sydney red gum) and Sydney Turpentine-Ironbark Forest.
As a source of inspiration, the Artist visited Council’s Warada Ngurang Community Nursery as part of this project where over 175 different species are propagated. The colour palette of the artwork reflects the diverse colours and textures found within the surrounding bushland and is of a sympathetic and compatible nature to the adjacent Browsery Cottage and Hornsby Westside Heritage Conservation Area.
The mural facing the carpark on Coronation Street features the distinctive shape of the ribbed, woody capsules (gumnuts) of the Angophora costata (Sydney Red Gum) which is the same type of tree growing within the adjacent Judge’s Bakery ghost building.
Shadow mural – Jersey Street Hornsby
This life sized “shadow mural” is of one of the horse and carts used to deliver fresh bread by Judge’s Bakery, which was located on Coronation Street, at the intersection of Jersey Lane.
Fabricated in steel and illuminated by LED lights at night, the sculpture was manufactured to scale using historical images as reference.
The horse in the historical image is a dray horse - a cross breed between a light horse and a draft, or a draft and a big pony. It would have stood around 15 hands tall – that is around 150 centimetres to the withers and weighed in at 500 kilograms.
The shadow mural is backlit by LED lights for night time illumination.
Bread cart from Judge's Bakery, Hornsby, c. 1940. Source: Hornsby Shire Recollects
Bread carter, Fred Bolton loads up the big basket with loaves for Hornsby residents. The cart is equipped with the ‘latest’ pump-up tyres. Note the leather cash bag around Fred’s neck. The cart horse is taking the opportunity to graze off the side of the road. The cart horses were brought in each day from the paddock at Lodge Street, Hornsby, then taken back in the evening.
Source: Hornsby Shire Recollects
Images left to right: Bread cart from Judge's Bakery, Hornsby, c. 1940. Source: Hornsby Shire Recollects; Five of Judge’s Bakery delivery carts ready to load up outside the bakery in Jersey Lane, c. 1930s. Source: Hornsby Shire Recollects
If you are interested in learning more about the built heritage of Hornsby, be sure to check out the Hornsby Heritage Walk. A self-guided historic walking tour of the business and retail precinct of Hornsby, highlighting the rich social and cultural past within the Hornsby Shire.