I noticed this building on my very hot walk through Abbotsford yesterday, initially because of the lovely cool breeze that blew out the windows, but then because it is actually a rather fine building designed by William Pitt. I particularly like the fine brickwork that accentuates the regular articulation of the facade. It was built in the late nineteenth century and the Heritage Databse describes it thus:The Denton Hat Mills is one of a number of significant large factory complexes designed by Pitt. It is thought to represent some of his earliest extant factory designs, predating his 1890s work at Foy and Gibson and the Victoria Brewery and his 1909 work at Bryant and May.The Denton Hat Mills complex is of scientific significance because it was Australia's first steam-powered hat factory and one of only ten percent of all Victorian clothing factories of the 1880s which boasted powered/mechanized plant.
