Chamber 24 - Bartletts

Written By Gareth M.

Chamber 24 - Bartletts, was the last of the large chambers in the Packing House main building.

This chamber also accessed through Chamber 23 - Statesmen and led into the café (Chamber 27 - Golden Delicious). It also led into Chamber 25 - Emperor and Chamber 26 - Sheppards Delight.

From 1993 through to 2022 it was the home of Book Browser, one of the largest secondhand bookshops in Victoria. 

This chamber specifically held all fiction books (aside from children's fiction which was in the neighbouring Chamber 25), along with non-fiction books on psychology, relationships, self help, plus journalism, media and literary analysis.

Following the sale of Tyabb Packing House to Morgan & Griffin, and some changes they implemented such as preventing Book Browser's sales being processed at the front counter, along with the economic downturn, and changes in management style by Morgan & Griffin at the Packing House, Book Browser elected to close their business down in December 2022. 

Following their vacating the space in December 2022 this chamber was leased to The Guild Gallery, the art gallery from the Village as an experimental pop-up shop in January 2023.

In later 2023 it was taken on in March 2023 by another vintage dealer from The Village.

Note: Images have dates written in YEAR-MONTH-DAY format, as there is a mix of mediums of images with some having more exact dates than others. 

Public phone (Photo: 1994)

More information

  • During the 1990s there was a “gold” public phone located in this chamber, as there was less prevalent access of mobile phones in that era, and even if you had access to one due to the thickness of the insulation in the Packing House’s walls phone reception was sometimes difficult. A large red phone was hung from the ceiling of this chamber to indicate this. In the early 2000s the phone was removed and the phone box was moved to the front entrance and a wheelie bin placed inside. The large red phone remained hanging from the ceiling until 2016.

  • This chamber had stairs that led down into Chamber 27 - Golden Delicious, a ramp down was in the neighbouring Chamber 25 - Emperor.

  • From 1993-2022 this chamber had book shelves, mostly made from pine on all available floor space.

  • Until 2023 this chamber had some of the oldest carpet in the Packing House (along with Chamber 22 - Broom Park), it was in half the chamber and was the most heavily trafficked piece of carpet in the Packing House as it covered the path to Chamber 27 (the café). By the 2010s it was more like furry vinyl with any softness or depth having been trodden down over past 20+ years. And by the 2020s some holes had started to appear, patched in a ‘make-do-and-mend’ with fabric tape.

  • There was a spotlight installed in the middle of the chamber near the opening of Chamber 25, it had (up to 2022) been pointing at a cabinet that held valuable bibles and other collectable books. During Book Browser’s sale the cabinet was sold, leaving the spotlight pointing at nothing.

  • The floor in this section, especially on the path towards the stairs into the café had begun to collapse somewhat in the 2020s; the stumps below had started face some structural issues. Some repairs had been made in the 2020s, although there remained scope for further works.

  • This chamber had a small ‘not a step and not a ramp’ between this chamber and Chamber 26 - Sheppards Delight, the plyboard covered the difference in levels between the two, it unsettled some people not expecting this slight difference. There existed no change in level into Chamber 25.

  • This chamber featured in an episode of “The Great Outdoors” on Seven in 2003.

  • This chamber was featured on the Nine Network tourism show “Postcards” in 2007.

External links

Other obscurities

Front Counter | Front office | Lay-by room | Internal phone system | Fire and emergency systems | Power, Heating and Cooling

Gareth M.
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Chamber 25 - Emporer
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Chamber 23 - Statesman