Building in Brick

Timaru. May 2009. Ajr When I drove through Timaru recently I was given to wondering how many bricks there might be in this little South Island town. I had gone off course (intentionally for once), scouting the backstreets for good photos. That's where I found two huge buildings that set me thinking about the 19th century. They were both brick, both flour mills. The larger of the two (top left and bottom images) is, I think (or was) Champion Flour Mills. At least that's what was written on one end of the building; it's not exactly a big mental leap from there is it? It appeared to be unused but how could you ever tell what was going on inside a bleak looking monstrocity like that? The smaller, much much cuter building is Atlas Flour Company building, designed by Dunedin architect, James Hislop and built in 1881 for William Evans. I particularly liked the multiple overlays of type in its sign. You can't see it in detail in this photograph, but letters from earlier times lurk like shadows behind the main name.