Glass Bricks

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 21mm · f/8.0 · 1/160 · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A column of glass bricks up the red brick facade of the boilerhouse, some panes intact, others gone. The glass bricks admitted diffuse light along the wall without compromising the thermal envelope. The boilerhouse was built as part of A Station, which came on line in 1917.

Edition

Open edition

Open edition
Printed to order, no fixed quantity. Each print is hand-signed by the photographer.

Limited edition
A fixed number of prints exist. Once sold, the edition closes permanently. Each print is individually numbered and signed.

$100.00 AUD

Colour

Signed, numbered, with COA. Made to order in 10 to 20 business days (framed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

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In situ

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Glass Bricks
Series: White Bay Power Station
Catalogue: WBP-050
Process: Giclée
Captured: 13 November 2015
Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 1/160 s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 21 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: Rozelle, New South Wales, Australia
Authenticity: C2PA verified provenance →
Recognised by: Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards

02 LOCATION

Rozelle, New South Wales, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

A vertical column of glass bricks runs the full height of the boiler house facade at White Bay Power Station, set deep into red brick. The view looks straight up. Concrete mullions divide the column into a grid of small panes. Several are missing. Others are cracked or replaced with plywood and louvred vents. The intact glass holds a soft blue-white tone where it catches the sky. The red brick around the column has weathered through more than a century of harbour weather, darkened at the joints. Nothing reaches across the column from inside. The light is the only thing passing through.

White Bay was built across three phases between 1912 and 1948, in the British municipal-generating-station tradition that combined load-bearing brick with steel framing and large industrial glazing. Glass-brick columns like this one let daylight into the upper levels of the boiler house, reducing the need for artificial lighting on the operating floors. The plant ran on traction current for Sydney's tram and train networks, built and operated by the NSW Government Railways and Tramways. Generation ended on Christmas Day 1983. The site is state-owned and mostly vacant. The glass bricks are still in the wall, doing the work they were installed to do.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A vertical column of glass bricks runs the full height of the boiler house façade, set deep into red brick. The view looks straight up. Concrete mullions divide the column into a grid of small panes. Several are missing. Others are cracked or replaced with plywood and louvred vents. The intact glass is grey, opaque with grime. Red brickwork flanks both sides, converging toward a pale sky. A small brass plaque at the base reads "J.P. Mullner & Co. Sydney."

Brett Patman

The series

White Bay Power Station

2015–2018 · 124 photographs

Bricklayers laid 3.7 million bricks at White Bay across three and a quarter years of Phase 1 construction, on Wanngal Country at the western edge of Rozelle. The New South Wales Government Railways ran the build through its own Construction Department. By 3 July 1913, boilers and alternators were running before the buildings that housed them were complete.

View all in this series →

05 SIZE GUIDE

Print sizes

The anatomy view shows what this finish is as a physical object: paper margin, mat band, frame depth, acrylic profile. The comparison strip shows how each size sits relative to the others at true scale. Click a size or a finish to update both.