The water hydraulic lift was the only lift in town and rose three stories, to the top of what was then the tallest building in Ballarat. 

Another time Sturt Street stood still, awaiting the arrival of the inventor in a car he had built himself, with carburettors of his own invention. 

On Sunday Mr Sutton – a radio pioneer credited for innovations in electricity and telecommunications - will be celebrated at Suttons Music House at the inaugural Henry Sutton’s Day.

“Henry’s mum Mary had a stroke and when they designed this building Henry built a water hydraulic lift and children would come into Suttons Music Shop so they could take a ride on it,” Suttons House of Music manager Dani Fry said. 

“This building is full of the networking cable that Henry built, it was the first intercom system invented, and when we were renovating, you can see this old lead covered cable running through the building and I’m sure Ballarat has a lot of things like that but the difference is here is the man who built it.”

Mr Sutton’s great granddaughter, who has written a record of his life, will be interviewed by The Courier journalist Caleb Cluff.

Gold coin entry will go towards the publication of the Henry Sutton Biography.

“One of the reasons we went ahead with calling the place Suttons, one of the main reasons we went ahead and fell in love with this building, is because of the story of the Sutton family and what they did for Ballarat,” Ms Fry said.

“When we did move in here up on the third floor we found a lot of old Sutton sheet music stamped with the Sutton stamp and on the floor was the business card for Miss Arthur Royce who was a well known singing teacher in the early 1900s.”

Henry Sutton Day starts at 10am on Sunday, September 4 with a Henry Sutton display and stories about his inventions.

Ciderhouse Duo will perform at 2pm followed by an interview with Henry Sutton’s great granddaughter and biographer Lorayne Branch on the main stage at 3pm.

Cyclists are invited to ride to Suttons as part of Cycle for Henry.