Adelaide. Keswick. The former Kelvinator refrigerator factory. This once nice Art Deco building has lost most features. Built late 1930s. Stream lined style. Clock on chamfered corner entrance still visible.
Kelvinator. William Queale and partners established the Mechanical Products Company in Adelaide in late 1932. Queale was the Managing Director of the company. They located their head office and factory on Anzac Highway at Keswick. The company secured the rights to make under license the American Kelvinator company’s domestic and commercial refrigerators from September 1933. Their workforce expanded rapidly from then onwards and they expected to have around 290 employees within a year. In the 1930s it was shops that mostly wanted a refrigeration cabinet for the sale of ice creams and hotels for the icy cold beers. By 1939 Kelvinator Australia employed over 400 people. Around 90% of the company’s products were sold interstate. Before it closed it had a workforce of around 2,500 people. Kelvinator was sold to Email in 1980 and the Anzac Highway buildings sold in 1984. William Queale made frequent visits to America and the stream lined Kelvinator Office building on Anzac Highway was probably built in the Art Deco style in the late 1930s. Its rounded corner entrance, clock, steel framed windows and neon Kelvinator sign are iconic. This building was probably designed in America by Kelvinator America as William Queale visited there at least once a year.
Adelaide. Keswick. The former Kelvinator refrigerator factory. This once nice Art Deco building has lost most features. Built late 1930s. Stream lined style. Clock on chamfered corner entrance still visible.
Kelvinator. William Queale and partners established the Mechanical Products Company in Adelaide in late 1932. Queale was the Managing Director of the company. They located their head office and factory on Anzac Highway at Keswick. The company secured the rights to make under license the American Kelvinator company’s domestic and commercial refrigerators from September 1933. Their workforce expanded rapidly from then onwards and they expected to have around 290 employees within a year. In the 1930s it was shops that mostly wanted a refrigeration cabinet for the sale of ice creams and hotels for the icy cold beers. By 1939 Kelvinator Australia employed over 400 people. Around 90% of the company’s products were sold interstate. Before it closed it had a workforce of around 2,500 people. Kelvinator was sold to Email in 1980 and the Anzac Highway buildings sold in 1984. William Queale made frequent visits to America and the stream lined Kelvinator Office building on Anzac Highway was probably built in the Art Deco style in the late 1930s. Its rounded corner entrance, clock, steel framed windows and neon Kelvinator sign are iconic. This building was probably designed in America by Kelvinator America as William Queale visited there at least once a year.