PHOTOGRAPH (FRAMED): 'TOM MCKENNA 29 YEARS BOC GASES' MICHELLE TAYLOR

The northern side of the intersection of Price and Tighe streets
was the site of the British Oxygen Company’s factory – a site
that was originally Dobbies Foundry but later saw a long
history of industrial gas production. Westralian Chemicals
and the Western Oxygen Company were followed on this site
by Commonwealth Industrial Gases, later renamed BOC by
the parent company. Oxygen and acetylene were produced at
the plant. During the redevelopment, the residue of lime, a
by-product of acetylene production, was used to neutralise
areas of acidic soil in Perth’s northern suburbs. Duncan
Stephen and Mercer were the architects of the company’s
distinctive art deco administration building which stood from
c.1940 until 2001.