A Cosmopolitan Family

By 1950 Melbourne was alive with new ideas, new disciplines, new crafts, and new cultures. It was the beginning of the Mid Century boom in our suburbs - a period in which Australians, new and old, began to think about the influence that good architecture has on our lives. 

With the influx of immigrants from Europe, a little cosmopolitan family is born at Slattery & Acquroff.  “People with names like Otto, Bruno, Karl, Werner, Reiner, and Fritz joined larrikins with names like George and Jack on the benches,” says George Beard, of the time. “They didn’t know much about stairs, but we set the standards and they brought these incredible skills to the table. We all helped each other along the way. We worked with different languages, with both imperial and metric systems. We were a happy family and we found a way.”