Monday 25 December 2017

Whiteman's Commercial Building

Whiteman’s Commercial Building

76–100 Argyle Street 
Camden
Lot 1, DP 1027952




 Whitemans General Store 86-100 Argyle St. 1900s. CIPP


 History and Description

The Whiteman family conducted a general store in Argyle Street on the same site for over 100 years.

In 1878 Charles Thomas Whiteman, who operated a family business in Sydney bringing produce to Camden bought a single storey home at the corner of Argyle and Oxley Street and ran his store from the site. (SHI) In 1878 a fire destroyed the business.

CT Whiteman was previously a storekeeper in Goulburn and Newtown and later married local Camden girl Anne Bensley in 1872. Whiteman, was a staunch Methodist, and was an important public figure in Camden and served as the town’s first mayor from 1892 to 1894. 

CT Whiteman moving to premises in Argyle Street in 1889 occupied by ironmonger J.Burret and Whiteman modified the building for a shopfront conversion.   (SHI) 

The store was leased to Woodhill family from 1903 to 1906. 

The original Argyle Street building was an early timber verandahed Victorian and Federation period store. It was a two-storey rendered masonry building with hipped tile roof, projecting brick chimneys. The second storey had painted timber framed windows which were shaded by a steeply pitched tile roof awning supported on painted timber brackets.(SHI)

A two-storey addition was constructed in 1936 and the verandah posts were removed in 1939 when this policy was implemented by Camden Municipal Council.

Whiteman Brothers 86-100 Argyle Street in 1923 (Camden Images)


There were later shopfront modifications to the adjacent mid 20th Century facade street frontage which included wide aluminium framed glazing and awning to the ground level of the building. (SHI)

The business sold a variety of goods including menswear, haberdashery, ladieswear,  hardware, and produce and became one of the longest-serving in Camden. 

The premises were known as the Cumberland Stores from 1889 to 1940.

 In the 1940s the store supplied groceries, drapery, men’s wear, boots and shoes, farm machinery, hardware, produce and stationery. (Gibson, 1940)

FC Whiteman & Sons at 86-100 Argyle Street in 1978 (Camden Images)


The Whiteman’s Store was trading as Argyle Living when it closed in 2006 under the control of Fred Whiteman. The Whiteman family had operated a general store in Camden for 123 years. On the closure of Argyle Living the store sold homewares, clothing, furniture and a range of knickknacks and was the largest in Camden with 1200 square metres of space.


Argyle Living Shopping Bag from the last Whiteman's Store in Argyle Street Camden in 2006. (I Willis, 2017)


Condition and Use

Currently a commercial premises and arcade in Argyle Street Camden

Heritage Significance

The former site of Whiteman's store was one of the longest-serving businesses in the Camden district. The buildings are an important historical reminder of the growth and development of Camden township from its late Victorian period to the new beginnings of post-war Camden. (SHI)

FC Whiteman & Sons at 86-100 Argyle Street in 1995 (Camden Images)


Heritage Listing

Local Environment Plan                       Item 9
State Heritage Inventory NSW                   ID 1280144
Australian Heritage Commission        National Estate Database

Read more

Julie Wrigley, ‘Whiteman family’. The District Reporter, 8 December 2017.