Henderson House, Footscray

For other uses, see Henderson House (disambiguation).

Henderson House
Location within Melbourne
Interactive map of the Henderson House area
Alternative names	Henderson's Piggery Henderson's Piggery and Wharf
General information
Status	Completed
Architectural style	Victorian Italianate
Location	43-45 Moreland Street, Footscray, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Coordinates	37°48′11″S 144°54′27″E
Current tenants	Footscray Community Arts Centre
Year built	1872–1873
Completed	1873 (1873)
Client	Samuel Henderson
Owner	Samuel Henderson (1872–1874) anor (1874–1970s) Footscray / Maribyrnong councils (since late 1970s)
Technical details
Material	Bluestone, slate
Floor count	2
Victorian Heritage Register
Official name	Henderson House
Type	Registered place
Designated	9 October 1974
Reference no.	H0183
Heritage overlay on.	HO77
Heritage inventory no.	H7822-0444
Category	Residential buildings (private)
Register of the National Estate
Official name	Lemprieres Building
Type	Defunct register
Designated	21 October 1980
Reference no.	5474
References

Henderson House, also known as Henderson's Piggery or Henderson's Piggery & Wharf, is a former house and piggery, now a community arts centre, located at 43-45 Moreland Street in Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia. Built in 1873 as a residential dwelling for the Henderson family on the western bank of the Maribyrnong River, the building was acquired by the local government in the 1970s and repurposed for use as the Footscray Community Arts Centre, and comprises an urban park leading to the Maribyrnong River Trail and the river.

Located on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung, the house was added to the Victorian Heritage Register on 9 October 1974 in recognition of its historical and architectural significance; and the adjacent Lemprieres Building, used as part of the piggery, was added to the now defunct Register of the National Estate on 21 October 1980.

History

Henderson House was constructed in Moreland Street, Footscray on the Saltwater River, now known as the Maribyrnong River, between 1872 and 1873 for Samuel Henderson. The house was part of an extensive quadrangular complex which included a factory for ham and bacon curing, and an associated residence. The house and attached curing works building remain from this original complex. Between 1870 and 1872, Henderson occupied, and then owned, a curing and slaughter house on the Melbourne Road, that was established in the late 1860s by William Smith, a ham curer. In 1872-3 Henderson relocated his operations to new premises he had built in a convenient location between Maribrynong Street, on the west bank of the river, and Moreland Street.

Description

The extensive complex of buildings was constructed around a courtyard and consisted of a house, a main factory building and other associated buildings, including a boiler house and chimney. The buildings formed a geometric garden that extended to the river front.

The main buildings were constructed of coursed rubble bluestone, with cream brick dressings as quoining around openings, and had slate roofs. The Victorian Italianate house, sited to face the river, was designed with an elevated verandah, a central entrance flanked by polygonal bays and a basement below.

By 1874 Henderson had sold the property and it has since had a number of owners and uses. Swallow and Ariell, biscuit manufacturers, occupied the site from the 1920s, and Lempriere and Company Limited, metal merchants, from the late 1950s. Many of the buildings were demolished in the late 1960s and the residence and adjoining curing building remain. The house faces the river, with an adjacent reserve and wharf, the latter also listed on the Victorian Heritage Register as the Saltwater River Crossing Site and Footscray Wharves Precinct.

Footscray Community Arts

The Footscray City Council, now the Maribyrnong City Council, purchased the Henderson House site in the late 1970s and it was adapted for use as the Footscray Community Arts Centre, and was renovated in 2020–2021.

Footscray Community Arts, formerly Footscray Community Arts Centre (FCAC), is a centre for contemporary arts, community engagement, cultural development and multicultural arts. Established in 1974, millions of community members have visited FCAC or directly participated in one or more of its many events, initiatives, projects, workshops and programs. The Brown Cabs theatre company has been company in residence since 2012, headed by Torres Strait Islander writer, director, and producer John Harvey. Harvey has co-curated the Black Screen program with Moondani Balluk of Victoria University, and supported the centre's Indigenous cultural program, as well as First Nations artists and members of the community. In 2022, FCA won the Arts Award in the Victorian of the Year awards.

An outdoor entertainment precinct, called Lango, located on the banks of the river, adjacent to the community arts centre, was completed in 2025, funded in part by an $8.5 million grant from the Victorian Government.

See also

• Architecture of Melbourne
• Saltwater River Crossing Site and Footscray Wharves Precinct
• List of places on the Victorian Heritage Register in the City of Maribyrnong

External links

• "Home page". Footscray Community Arts Centre. Retrieved 24 June 2026.
• "Footscray Community Arts Centre Reserve". City of Maribyrnong. 2026. Retrieved 24 June 2026.
• Storey, Rohan (31 March 2020). "Henderson Curing Works / Footscray Community Arts Centre" (includes historical and contemporary images of the house). Storey of Melbourne. Retrieved 24 June 2026.