Like earlier woolstores, the top floor was occupied by a single large showroom, where buyers could examine the wool at leisure under suffusive natural lighting.
[1] The site was owned from 1883 to 1906 by Queensland Brewery Ltd (later Carlton United), manufacturers of Brisbane's popular Bulimba Beer.
[1] Three major factors shaped this development: the presence of a railway, the availability of deep river wharfage, and the expansion of primary industry in Queensland.
Convenient bulk transport was crucial for the movement of wool from distant properties to the woolstores, rail being the cheapest means of bringing the product in for storage until it was shipped out some time after sale.
The wool boom of the 1950s occasioned the construction of the final two woolstores in Teneriffe: Dalgety's new No 3 Store, and Australian Estates No.
Jack Michod, Dalgety's Queensland Wool manager, was very involved in the design, in particular regarding natural lighting, floor room spacing and an innovative chute control system.
[1] From the mid-1960s, the importance of the Teneriffe facilities to the Queensland wool industry slowly declined, and the Teneriffe wharves, having failed to keep pace with technological changes, and lacking sufficient depth for container vessels, were supplanted in 1977-78 by the Port of Brisbane Authority's new river-mouth facilities at Fishermans Island.
Also along part of the Macquarie Street facade, terracotta tiles extend from ground level up to the projecting concrete above the head.
[1] The internal structure is reinforced concrete floors and steel columns, with a series of trusses supporting the sawtooth roof.
Office accommodation was provided on the ground, first and third floors, access being gained by means of an elevator and concrete stairs.
Paddy's Market remains an integral element of the most cohesive group of woolstores in Australia, illustrating the development of the Queensland wool industry from the early 1900s to the 1950s.
Paddy's market is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of the broad class of brick, concrete and steel woolstores which were built in Australian ports, including Teneriffe, to serve the wool industry after the Second World War, but which illustrates a continuity of traditional elements and form in the materials and style of the 1950s.
The building is part of a group of woolstores which have formed a landmark along the Brisbane River for many years, and for over a decade has had a special social association for the Queensland community as Paddy's Market.
The building is part of a group of woolstores which have formed a landmark along the Brisbane River for many years, and for over a decade has had a special social association for the Queensland community as Paddy's Market.