The Collection

Mr Arthur Metzenthen, and his wife Elsie were the owners of the confectionery shop at 126 Union Road, between Sunbury Crescent and Croydon Road. The 2 storey building is still there, top storey largely unaltered, bottom storey altered when the site was part of the New Litho printing business. Arthur’s daughter, Mrs Elva Ingamells, donated this photo to our collection and recalled the shop and life growing up at the shop.“As a family we lived behind and above the actual shop, enjoying a large backyard, ideal for playing cricket, from 1927-1942. Arthur ‘Metz’ as he was always known by, is behind the counter, ice-cream cone in hand ready to serve ice-cream. The certificates, behind the jars of sweets, were awarded to him for Professionally Dressed Window Displays when Empire Day was celebrated – [it was] dressed by chocolate manufacturers. I know that Cadbury’s was one. You will also notice an advertisement for Peters ‘Fuzz’, [it was] yellow in colour and a slightly different texture from ice-cream. It was not one of Peters’ success stories but was a favourite for many years. Arthur and Elsie made their own flavoured ice blocks until the advent of the icy pole. A range of flavourings for his well-known spiders and malted milk drinks can be seen in front of the mirror. You will also notice a hot water urn for making tea and coffee, also an advertisement for Guests biscuits – a few tins on the shelf. These were served, using brown china crockery on glass topped tables (out of the picture on

“As a family we lived behind and above the actual shop, enjoying a large backyard, ideal for playing cricket, from 1927-1942. Arthur ‘Metz’ as he was always known by, is behind the counter, ice-cream cone in hand ready to serve ice-cream. The certificates, behind the jars of sweets, were awarded to him for Professionally Dressed Window Displays when Empire Day was celebrated – [it was] dressed by chocolate manufacturers. I know that Cadbury’s was one. You will also notice an advertisement for Peters ‘Fuzz’, [it was] yellow in colour and a slightly different texture from ice-cream. It was not one of Peters’ success stories but was a favourite for many years. Arthur and Elsie made their own flavoured ice blocks until the advent of the icy pole. A range of flavourings for his well-known spiders and malted milk drinks can be seen in front of the mirror. You will also notice a hot water urn for making tea and coffee, also an advertisement for Guests biscuits – a few tins on the shelf. These were served, using brown china crockery on glass topped tables (out of the picture on left side).

Other items of interest are paper bags, peanuts, snowballs and large clocks of chocolate, scales and the cash register known as a ‘till’. A ‘halfpenny’ and ‘penny’ trays were kept in the glass display cabinet next to the refrigerator and were the children’s favourite way to spend their pocket money …”

Peters Ice-Cream was founded by Frederick Augustus Bolles Peters (1866-1937) and dates back to 1907. Peters was an American, who initially lost money in Australia, but spurred on by homesickness and craving ice-cream (which was not readily available here), he leased two rooms in an ice factory in Paddington, Sydney and set up Peters’ American Delicacy Co. Ltd on 27 August 1907. He set up a factory in Victoria in 1927.

For many years, this home was hidden behind a large fence sheltering it from the noise of traffic along Canterbury Road, however it dates back to the very early days of settlement in this area. Canterbury Road was then known as Delany’s Road. ‘Spenceycroft’ is thought to incorporate part of the original farmhouse built on the site by George Klepper, who planted a vineyard in the area. George’s family was one of a number of German families who settled in Surrey Hills during the later part of the 19th century. Later, the land associated with ‘Spenceycroft’ was worked as a dairy farm by James and Elizabeth Rayment. In recent years Spenceycroft was sold several times and became increasingly derelict. Since its last sale, it has been demolished.

This Edwardian style home was relatively newly-built when this photo was taken in 1913. Its owner, Mr B Offszanka poses on the veranda and his cart can just be seen on the left of this picture. No 44 is a modest home with simple detail in the picket fence and fretwork and coloured patterned glass in the windows rather than more ornate leadlight. Later the main window to the street was replaced with a bay window, and in more recent years the home has had a second storey added.

Phil Voutier was a pupil at Chatham Primary School in Weybridge Street from 1927, the year the school opened, until 1932. He is one of a number of pupils who posed for an enterprising photographer who visited the school with his pony early in 1929.