Ivanhoe Panel Works

Posted on Saturday, 22nd February 2020 by Janine Rizzetti

Cross-posted from our Facebook page 13 February 2020

Ivanhoe Panel Works has been at 1027-1029 Heidelberg Rd Darebin since at least 1960- but no more! A sign attached to the building indicates that an apartment building will be erected at 1023-1027 Heidelberg Rd. (I do find myself wondering what will happen to 1029 Heidelberg Rd, given that there is a large apartment building abutting it!)

There may well have been a garage or motor works on the site of 1027-1029 Heidelberg Road since the 1920s. The directories at the time didn’t show street numbers, but there was a ‘motor garage’ listed north of Kingsley St on the west side of Heidelberg Road in 1925. By 1930, ‘McCarthy and Kerrison Motor Garage’ was on on the site.

By 1935, street numbers were listed for Heidelberg Road and there was a succession of business at 1027-1029, all related to the motor industry. In 1935 Alfred J. Bomfield had a motor garage at 1027-1031. Between 1940 and 1950 Effcee Motors were located there, replaced by Baypen Motors in 1953-1956.

By 1960 Ivanhoe Panel Works had relocated there, from an earlier location at 109 Upper Heidelberg Road. It was to remain there for at least the next 57 years. During the 1950s Ivanhoe Panels was owned by Bill Jones, seen in the middle of the black-and-white photograph above with Martin Cooper on the right, with a car badly in need of attention!

Ivanhoe Panel Works closed in or around 2017. The land with permits for a multi-storey dwelling is still for sale.

Click here to see an image of the building approved for the site.