Nearby tenants include Mattie Doyle, Violin Studio, Plume Appotenic Motor Spirit, Better Brakes Scientific Brake Service, Excelsior Supply Co Ltd, Rubber Stamp factory, DeVibriss Spray Painting and Finishing, and Furniture Kings.
Broadway is historically important because in 1794 it is one of the first roads built in the colony of New South Wales. It had been called "George Street South" and then "George Street West". After being widened in 1906 when the Central railway station was built, George Street, west of Railway Square, then became known as "The Broadway" (1933). This name was subsequently shortened to just "Broadway".
The elevated photograph was taken on 19th March 1930 from the Grace Brothers tower looking east towards the city and shows the road alignment before widening. At this time the Commbank bank was known as the Government Savings Bank of NSW.
Lux Soap (pictured on billboards and signage in the aerial image), was a brand founded by the firm Lever Brothers in 1899, now known as Unilever. Lux Soap was introduced to America in 1925, so at the time the linked photograph was taken the soap brand was in its infancy.
Lever Brothers opened an office in in Sydney in 1888 and in 1897 established a plant at Balmain to extract oil from copra sourced from the Pacific islands. In 1900 it began to manufacture Sunlight soap and glycerine, and in time it later produced all the main Lever products.
Lever Brothers (Australia) Ltd was incorporated in New South Wales in 1899 and branch offices were later set up in other state capitals, so the soap was introduced to Australia quite early. The Balmain factory ceased operation in 1988.
