More Info →161-163 The Square – Mowlem Buildings (a.k.a. ‘Bares Buildings’)

Arthur Robert Allen and his then business partner, Herbert Leslie Hickson, designed this building for Frederick Mowlem in November 1924. Allen and Hickson had designed one long building to stretch between Cuba Street and The Square, however, only this part was built to their plan. The above-verandah façade remains largely authentic – although it was designed to have “Mowlems Buildings” cut into the upper façade. Its building permit was issued in February 1925, and it was evidently complete by year’s end - the cost being £8,887. Fred Mowlem died in November 1925, and his wife Mary died in August 1926, however, it remained in the Mowlem family until sold to the Bares family in 1967. Designed with two shops and various offices and other small businesses upstairs, its major early tenant was the Para Rubber Co. Ltd., which occupied it between about 1934 and 1983.