In June 1920, this site was approved by the Health and Public Works Committee to be developed as a factory. In this case H. Harris, proposed that he would run a boot and shoe factory here, employing 300 males and 175 females. (Fitzroy City Press, 4 Jun 1920)
It is an interesting site as you can see from the image below from 1900, that the Foundry was operating from number 36-38, and 38-44 look to be terraced housing, which must have been removed to build this factory. Looking at the building though, it is likely this was done closer to 1900 than 1920, so perhaps Harris was repurposing the site from some other use.
