Lay-by room
Front Counter | Front office | Lay-by room | Internal phone system | Fire and emergency systems | Power, Heating and Cooling
The lay-by room was located at the front entrance end of Chamber 10 - Crofton and diagonally from the Front Counter.
It was also the location of staff facilities / staff room until 2022 when Morgan & Griffin took ownership.
From 1993 through to 2021 Tyabb Packing House Antiques management provided tea bags, instant coffee and sugar for dealers, along with a fridge, microwave and kettle in this space. During the COVID-19 pandemic these communal spaces were seen as high-risk and were removed because of an over abundance of concern.
The tap in the lay-by room. 2016-02-25
There was also a sink, with a fairly precariously placed water tap that looked like it should have been on a farm. But it was mostly functional.
The lay-by room originally was occupied by one of the largest of the gas heaters for the Packing House, before the ducted heating was installed, there was a huge one located at the front entrance. Gerard Martland used to like to stand in front of the large vent there in the winter.
The heater had come from an auction room in Sale, and probably had been used to heat a medium sized building given the amount of air it could shift, but Gerard had gotten it installed and just put the heat output through one 500mm sized vent.
There remains a blank piece of plyboard on the wall that covers up the hole where this heater vent was located.
From the 2010s the lay-by room was utilised by Silver Screen for extra storage of their movie memorabilia items, until 2022 when Chamber 16 - Beurre Bosc became available to rent and Silver Screen began utilising this space for extra storage.
For a time the Packing House also offered prams, and wheelchairs, these were also stored in the lay-by room.
Likewise extra fans that were used to cool the building during the summer were also stored in here.
The lay-by room was also the home of the various trolleys and furniture dollies that were utilised by dealers moving furniture, books and other old wares either into and out of the building, or retrieving items from customer's cars from whom they'd purchased items from.
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
Up until the mid-2000s the exterior door to the lay-by room was painted red (the same red as the interior), however around 2006 it was re-painted green.
The Packing House’s management (1993-2021) provided a large Stihl ‘shop-vac’ vacuum cleaner and several long extension cords for all dealers to use to keep their spaces clean, this was stored in the lay-by room.
Chambers
Chamber 1 - Tycos | Chamber 2 - Glenburn | Chamber 3 - Granny Smith | Chamber 4 - Newton | Chamber 5 - Brammley | Chamber 6 - Rome Beauty | Chamber 7 - Stewart | Chamber 8 - Democrat | Chamber 9 - Jonathon | Chamber 10 - Crofton | Chamber 11 - Five Crown | Chamber 12 - Snow | Chamber 13 - William | Chamber 14 - Display & Chamber 15 - Museum | Chamber 16 - Beurre Bosc | Chamber 17 - Winter Cole | Chamber 18 - Winter Nelis | Chamber 19 - Packham | Chamber 20 - Red Delicious | Chamber 21 - Pippin | Chamber 22 - Broom Park | Chamber 23 - Statesman | Chamber 24 - Bartletts | Chamber 25 - Emporer | Chamber 26 - Sheppards Delight | Chamber 27 - Golden Delicious | Chamber 28 - Garden | Garden in the middle |