W. J. Cryer’s were, by the 1920’s one of Sydney’s larger and well-known commercial printers, and in addition to their busy sheet-fed (letterpress) division, were just starting to focus on greeting cards and packaging applications of that era – including tapered drink-containers, and price-marking tickets (“pin-tickets”).
In 1934, the company made a significant move, from cramped two-storey premises in Darlinghurst where they’d been for the previous 12 years. They moved into very modern, purpose-built premises in Redfern, known as “Cryterion House”.
It was a purpose-designed building, ahead of its time in many ways – boasting large, light-admitting windows, and was “centrally-heated” by pipes running through the walls, carrying hot water, heated every day in winter by a hot-water boiler, which had to be stoked each night with chopped-up pallets and other waste material.
After more than 70 years, the building still exists, and is now preserved as a block of apartments, known as “The Printery”.