Chamber 26 - Sheppards Delight

Written By Gareth M.

Chamber 26 - Sheppards Delight was the space that ran from the corner with Chamber 25 - Emporer all the way up to near the front entrance at Chamber 11 - Five Crown.

From 1993 to 2022 most of this corridor was held by Book Browser. 

The exception was around Chamber 11 - Five Crown, from 1993 to 2000 it was held by the dealers who rented that particular chamber; Pete and Bill Jones in 1993,  then in the later 1990s Michael and Andrew McDonald, then following them Beryl Whitfield the proprietor of Rumpoles Antiques & Fine Wares for the remainder of the time until 2012.

Following that shelves were added extending Book Browser's space through all of Chamber 26.

In the late 1990s Peter French Antiques (the dealer in Chamber 22 - Broom Park) elected to block the opening into this chamber, citing "sunlight ruins furniture". The blocking of this opening from Chamber 22 into Chamber 26 also gained him additional display space for larger pieces of furniture. But decreased the ability for visitors to explore the building.

This expansive chamber held the remaining bulk of non-fiction that was not covered in the other Chambers 25 and Chamber 24.

Science and related subjects nearest to the corner with Chamber 25, medical subjects continued back towards the front entrance, finance, culture, philosophy, crime, parapsychology, books in foreign languages. Dictionaries, thesauri and sheet music located against the wall shared with Chamber 22. With crime, war and religious books against the windows overlooking the car park. Beside these was sport and music.

Followed by a gap for the emergency exit door and corridor into Chamber 21 - Pippin, then antiques, movies, craft and biographies which were on the walls of Chamber 20 - Red Delicious and Chamber 11 - Five Crown.

Following the sale of Tyabb Packing House Antiques to Morgan & Griffin and some changes they implemented such as preventing Book Browser's sales being processed at the front counter, despite protestations and explanations of the expansive layout of the books especially along this chamber, and together with the economic downturn coupled with changes in management style of Morgan & Griffin at the Packing House it led Book Browser to close down their business in December 2022.

Following their vacating the space in December 2022 this chamber remained empty until it was taken on in March 2023 when a Christmas-themed dealer took on the space, one of two Christmas-themed shops located at 14 Mornington-Tyabb Road; the other located in 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. 

More information

No.6 Chamber, 5,8000 (Photo: 2022-12-17)

  • This chamber had two emergency exits along its length, one at the opening to Chamber 24 - Bartletts and one at the opening to Chamber 21 - Pippin.

  • From the mid-1990s through to January 2022 there was replica of a ‘Coles Book Arcade’ sign on the wall above the entrance to the corner where the chamber met Chamber 25 - Emporer.

  • On the chamber door for Chamber 22 - Broom Park there was an original list from the building’s coolstore days for “No.6” chamber.

  • This chamber had a small ‘not a step and not a ramp’ between this chamber and Chamber 24 - Bartletts. Plyboard covered the difference in levels between the two, it unsettled some people not expecting this slight difference. There existed no change in level walking around the corner into Chamber 25 from this chamber.

  • The opening across Chamber 23 - Statesman was half covered by a bookshelf from the 2000s to 2023.

  • From 1993-2022 this chamber opened into Chamber 11 - Five Crown, Chamber 20 - Red Delicious, Chamber 21 - Pippin, Chamber 23 - Statesman and Chamber 24 - Bartletts. In the latter months of 2022 the dealer in Chamber 23 blocked the other half of the opening into this chamber. The dealers who occupied Chamber 20 mostly strategically blocked the openings into this chamber until 2023 with furniture.

    • By 2023 there remained only three openings into this chamber, with one (of two) openings accessible in Chamber 20, Chamber 21 and Chamber 24, whilst the corridor around from Chamber 25 also remained accessible.

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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