Jolimont, Agnes Street 031, Herschell's

The house started as a two room cottage but expanded as the owner's family grew. The Chalker family owned the house until 1919 when Miss Marie Chalker was the occupier. In 1925 Charles Richard Herschell bought the building as the home for his film production company, Herschell's Pty. Ltd. and it was then that he added the warehouse extension to the front of the Victorian building. Herschell's produced mainly documentary film, specializing in newsreels. They made the documentary film that was taken overseas to sell Melbourne as the city for the 1956 Olympics, and during the Olympics themselves Herschell's was a hive of activity as reporters from all around the world delivered their films for processing. Charles Herschell died in 1962 and the company was briefly taken over by some of its employees (Roy Driver and Associates late of Herschells), but it did not survive the advent of television and by 1966 was only one of six tenants in the building and soon after ceased to exist altogether. Peter Taylor reports there was also an extension at the back that took up the full width of the land and was used as a viewing room with an overhead projection booth and also a recording studio for voice overs. Film processing with nitrate stock took place in the basement, which had been bomb-proofed in case of fire. The front section was used as Herschell's own office suite and private viewing room. He also tells us that the building was sold in 1975 and at that time was used as a casting agency and a clothing manufacturing base as well as a courier srvice. At one time the basement was used by the band, The Aztecs as a recording and rehearsal studio. Lectrum, a much awarded company designing and manufacturing lecterns started here, but are now in NSW. Able Presentations started trading on the first floor in 1988, specializing in large screen projection using the rear room as a demonstration suite. Two film vaults were built out the back on the rear lane, one for processed film and one for raw stock, again bomb and fire proof, due to nitrate film. Afterwards it was used primarily as an office complex. In more recent years the building stood vacant and derelict and in 2005 Sidcorp Pty. Ltd. applied to demolish part of the building at the rear and to add two storeys to the height of the remaining building, and to convert the whole to nine apartments. The company was eventually granted a permit to extend the building by one storey. In 2007 the building was demolished without a permit. It has since been rebuilt as an apartment building with a facade replicating the original as demanded by the Council.