Photograph by Paul Gosney

VICTOR CHURCHILL BUTCHERY – SINCE 1876

– Established in 1876, the original Churchill’s butcher shop, located on Queen Street in Woollahra, was founded by James Churchill.
– Victor and Cyril Churchill, James’ sons, took over the management of the store with Victor Churchill managing the store for the longest period of time.
– The name, “Victor Churchill” is a tribute to the Churchill family and to Victor Puharich, a master butcher.
– Victor and Anthony Puharich the founders of Vic’s Premium Quality Meat, Australia’s largest meat wholesaler of premium meats, have become the fourth owners of the butcher shop in its 134-year history.
– Supplying Sydney and Melbourne’s finest restaurants, such as Jacque Raymond, Vue De Monde, Cutler & Co, Movida, Rockpool Bar and Grill, Flower Drum, Grossi Florentino, The Stokehouse and Taxi Dining Room for the past 14 years with the finest meat available, the same selection is now available to the public

Photograph by Paul Gosney

LOCATION & HISTORY
132 Queen Street
Woollahra NSW 2025 Australia

– Woollahra, is located in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney and is located 5 kilometers east of the Sydney central business district.
– Woollahra is famous for its quiet, beautiful tree-lined streets and first-class, village-style shopping.
– The name ‘Woollahra’ appears to have originated from the word ‘Willara’, which is thought to have been the local Aboriginal word for Woollahra Point. There has been confusion about the meaning of the name since Daniel Southwell first recorded it in 1788.
– Southwell translated the word ‘Woo-la-ra’ as meaning ‘The Look-out’.
– However, by the time the name ‘Woollahra’ is next seen in the records in 1856 (as the name chosen by Daniel Cooper for his planned home at Point Piper), it was reported that the word was the Aboriginal name for Point Piper, meaning ‘camp’ or ‘meeting ground’.
– In 1860, ‘Woollahra’ was adopted as the name for the newly formed Municipality of Woollahra.

Photograph by Paul Gosney

DESIGN

– With the interior designed by Michael McCann of Dreamtime Australia, the store is quite unlike any butcher store in Australia
– Gone are the traditional refrigerated cabinets and parsley dressed meats, replaced with a store infused with European style and modern, cutting-edge design elements.
– Rich timber wall paneling, timber beamed ceiling and Italian Calacatta marble stone floor, Himlayian salt brick walls create the new interior of Victor Churchill.

Photograph by Paul Gosney

– During demolition an old sandstone wall was discovered and it was decided to keep the wall and highlight its unique, historical value by using it as the backdrop wall for the butchers’ ‘working stage’.
– The front of the shop features a see-through double glazed refrigerated vitrine which allows you to view an ever-changing array of hanging meat and poultry – all displayed on stunning custom-made copper and glass shelving, with produce also featured in an illuminated ice display
– In an Australian-first installation by boutique stonemasons, Gitani Stone, our floor has been sliced into mosaic tiles and re-laid in book-matched slab form with a marble wall coving. The ceiling and counter fronts feature hand-carved copper fretwork by Di Emme Creative Solutions.

Photograph by Paul Gosney

Photograph by Paul Gosney

DESIGN (continued)

– The hot and cold kitchens feature hair-on leather clad walls covered and protected by glass, from famed Texas-based leather artist Kyle Bunting.
– Custom copper refrigerated cabinets line a wall where our premium meats are displayed, together with meat specialties such as terrines, pates and parfaits prepared on-site in our hot and cold kitchen.
– The charcuterie counter displays many of the world’s top quality cured, artisanal meats such as Jamón Ibérico de Bellota, Prosciutto and Chorizo sliced with legendary Dutch Berkel meat slicers alongside a specially imported French Labesse Guiaiudon rôtisserie for poultry and game birds. The museum quality antique Berkel floor-standing slicer, restored in Europe is displayed nearby.
– Our floor-to-ceiling glass walled cool room is yet another stunning feature. Specialty cuts of meat slowly pass by, hung from a custom designed cog gear and metal chain rack with larger carcass meat cuts aging behind, all backed by the floor-to-ceiling Himalayan salt brick wall.
– Whimsy features in numerous areas of the store including our ‘chook cam’ wall, a nod to the recent 2008 Fall Louis Vuitton window display, with multiple video cameras trained onto our daily special within a glass domed display pedestal. As well, custom “sausage” handles cast in solid copper from real Vic’s Meat sausages, grace our principal doors and drawers.

Photograph by Paul Gosney

VICTOR & ANTHONY PUHARICH

Victor Puharich
– Victor Puharich comes from a long line of butchers in Croatia, where he was born.
– Vic opened his own butcher store on Oxford Street, Sydney in 1996. In 1999 Vic and his son Anthony grew Vic’s Premium Quality Meat from a retail shop to a meat wholesaler.
– Vic’s Meat moved to a purpose-built building in Mascot, with state-of-the-art cool rooms, cutting floors, packing rooms and a dedicated dry-age room.
– Victor was inducted into the Food Hall of Fame in October 2007. He still loves to butcher meat to the highest of standards and share his knowledge and passion with his customers.

Photograph by Paul Gosney

Anthony Puharich
– Anthony Puharich, along with his Father, grew Vic’s Premium Quality Meat from a retail shop on Oxford St, Sydney to an international meat wholesaler.
– Anthony Puharich completed a finance and economics degree at Queensland’s Bond University, before realizing that his entrepreneurial skills could be better put to use in the family business.
– He has grown the Vic’s Meat brand internationally, and was instrumental in the re-birth of Victor Churchill. Anthony has featured in many of the country’s top food magazines, ABC radio, ‘Fresh’ on Channel 9, and is recognized as one of the leading voices in the industry.

Photograph by Paul Gosney

Photograph by Paul Gosney

Photograph by Paul Gosney

Photograph by Paul Gosney

All information courtesy of Victor Churchill Butchery: http://www.victorchurchill.com/
All photographs by Paul Gosney: http://www.paulgosney.com
Design by Dreamtime Australia Design: http://www.dreamtimeaustraliadesign.com

If you enjoyed this article, the Sifter highly recommends: THE LARGEST FISH & SEAFOOD MARKET IN THE WORLD