The RC Henderson factory, a historic women’s hat factory in Sydney, was destroyed in a devastating fire recently. The factory had been in disrepair for several years and was due to be developed into a hotel. The factory was known for producing women’s felt hats in Australia for decades but had been vandalized with graffiti and filled with rubbish. It had also become a refuge for rough sleepers. Two teenagers have been questioned by police over the fire, which will likely mean the whole building has to be demolished.
Liz Kitchen, the daughter of Rolla Crosby Henderson, who worked in the factory after leaving school at 16, said watching the fire rip through her family legacy on the news was shocking. From 1905 into the 1950s, the company was a major manufacturer of ladies’ hats. The NSW government’s State Heritage Inventory shows RC Henderson Pty Ltd was a major manufacturer of ladies’ hats from 1905 into the 1950s.
The factory was sold to developers Hanave in 1978 and has been rented out as office space intermittently since then. Real estate photos from 2017 depict a bright, warehouse-style space for lease as office space. But TikTok videos reportedly taken two weeks ago show the interior of the building had been graffitied and the floors strewn with rubbish. The factory had also narrowly escaped a fire once before.
The directors of family company Hanave, Robert and Geula Bourke, are understood to be too upset to speak. They had planned to develop the factory into a 123-room hotel, called “The Hat Hotel,” keeping intact its Federation Warehouse-style frontage. Hanave ran a competition to find the best architectural design, according to a development application lodged with the City of Sydney.
Architect Tim Greeg, from the winning firm Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, said the destruction of his project site was crushing. “Shocked. Devastated really,” he said. “It’s come at a time when there’s been six years of incredibly hard work that’s been put into this project.”
The fire has caused significant damage to the building, which will likely have to be demolished. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but two teenagers have been questioned by police. The factory had fallen into disrepair in recent years and had become a refuge for rough sleepers. The directors of Hanave had planned to develop the factory into a hotel, but the fire has destroyed their plans.