Look ma! I'm in the paper.

This blog has fallen down several slots in my current 'to do' list. The main reasons are imminent thesis submission and a new semester of teaching. I also have a few other projects on the go. One of which is the new group 'Melbourne Heritage Action'. It has risen from the ashes, or the dust, of Lonsdale House. Several of us felt so angry that all the community protests over the demolition of that art deco building were ignored that we have formed a new group to hopefully stop similar demolitions in the future. The National Trust encouraged us to form a  group focused just on the CBD. In part because the CBD is very vulnerable, the land is valuable and there is a demand for new buildings with CBD addresses. Also because the CBD has lacked such a group. Many suburbs have resident's groups, or heritage groups and while the CBD does have some they don't tend to have nearly as many members and are often focused on specific areas or specific buildings. Our hope is to connect all these groups and give the general public a place to find out about heritage threats and what they can do about them, how they can protest and so on.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/art-deco-destruction-spurs-gen-y-heritage-protectors-20100814-1248e.html

A few weeks ago we had our inaugural meeting, and today we got a story in The Age. Please visit our site and get involved http://www.melbourneheritage.org.au/
We are standing outside Scots Church Hall, which is under threat of demolition along with the art deco car park next door and the building on the corner of Lt Collins and Russell streets.

Save the Windsor Rally

I was at the rally yesterday and there was a decent turn out. I'm terrible at guessing crowd numbers but maybe 150 people? Enough to fill the steps and crowd the pavement. Rod Quantock MC'ed, and various people spoke including Bob Brown. Who promised to make it a national issue. I also hope that The Greens make it an election issue. They came very close to winning the seat of Melbourne in the last election and I hope that if they could campaign on issues like this then maybe they would unseat Bronwyn Pike. Some of the liberal members also spoke but I am a bit cynical about their motivations, they were more focused on the corruption in the planning process and one man in particular seemed to be very obviously avoiding stating that he was against the proposal for The Windsor.

I am very against for a few reasons. I believe that a huge tower tacked on the back of The Windsor will ruin its appearance, the way the the sun shimmers over its facade will be lost and the grand hotel will sit uncomfortably in the shadow of a glass monolith.  I think the design itself is boring and completely insensitive to The Windsor, it speaks of an architect who wants to dominate a low rise area with a  statement building, not try and work sensitively with what is already there. The issue here is not simply about a single building but about good urban planning, about how buildings sit in relation to one another. Tall buildings in Melbourne's grid plan create wind tunnels and shade streets for much of the day. Lonsdale St beside the QV is a good example, the BHP billiton building funnels the wind along the street and keeps the street cafes in shade almost all day.  It's all a bit depressing. Melbourne has places for high rise buildings, like docklands and Southbank and the other end of the CBD, we need to retain low rise areas as well. Many cities have very successfully kept strict height limits, and these have led to very creative and inventive pieces of architecture. Anyway here are some pictures, I particularly like my one of the Madden Mad Hatter towering over the Windsor so I have made a new badge to replace my now defunct Save Lonsdale House Badge.

The relevance of the Alice in Wonderland characters is that Madden is the Mad Hatter (naturally). Brumby is the March Hare and Heritage Victoria is the Dormouse, asleep at the table. Alice represented the public, confused and treated with contempt.

Another piece of Melbourne Art Deco bites the dust...

Sad to see this warehouse on the corner of Brunswick St and Victoria Pde seems to be in the process of being demolished. Scaffolding went up on Monday and it is already half gone. The lovely spire is till there... for now.


It's a real shame to lose this, I can only imagine something pretty uninspiring will take its place. It had been left to get so run down but it still had a beauty about it, the peeling white and pink paint, the ripped posters, the rippled patterns down the side, the faded traces of its former functions, the great hulking, yet elegant tower.


I actually bought my first proper grown up bike from here when I was about 14. It also has historic significance as one of the old Cable Tramway Engine Houses. I found this photo of it by J.T. Collins in the State Library Picture catalogue from 1975. You can see some art deco style lettering that read 'Penfolds House Wines'.

John T. Collins, 1975. Image from the State Library Acc. No.:Accession No: H96.210/120

Some recent photos pre-scaffolding.

Lonsdale House may be doomed.

Some other bloggers have already reported this, but I feel so strongly about it I thought I would add my own post.

The Age is reporting that the State Government has given approval for the Myer redevelopment and given Colonial Global Asset Management permission to knock down the wonderful art deco Lonsdale House.

I am appalled that Myer, who like to advertise themselves as a central part of Melbourne, appears to have no desire to retain buildings that make Melbourne unique. How do we encourage businesses like Myer, and David Jones (who are also guilty of destruction in this area), to have a conscience? How do we make them see that they have a responsibility to save and conserve Melbourne along with the rest of us?

I am appalled that the City Council essentially washed their hands of the affair (though we have recently seen Robert Doyle's attitude to Melbourne's iconic Flinders St station). Do they not realise that Melbourne's appeal lies in the range of architecture and diversity of street fronts? Every city, even every suburban area has its glass cathedrals to consumerism, but only a few have the range of art deco buildings that Melbourne does, or should I say did.

I am appalled at the State Government. Planning minister Justin Madden, who trained as an architect, lists "20th century architecture" as one of his interests. I can only think this is a cruel joke, or that he simply has not had the chance to change it to "bending to the will of developers".

The area where Lonsdale House is has a heritage overlay, meaning essentially that the area is considered to be of heritage significance. Sadly these overlays seem to count for little and one wonders what the point of them is. It seems there is little recognition that preserving heritage is not about keeping a few surviving key examples of styles, or just keeping the biggest and brightest. It is about preserving the look and feel of a city. It is about the overall urban appearance, the range of façades along a street, not just individual examples. Melbourne suffered at the hands of development and in particular the infamous Whelan the Wrecker in the 1950s and 1960s. Philip Adams recently wrote about how these "The wreckers deserve a National Trust classification for the simple reason that Whelan helped bring the National Trust into being." Sadly it seems we have not learned from our mistakes.

I honestly do not know if there is anything else that can be done, but I will certainly be writing letters to the paper, to the government and to Myer and Colonial to let them know what I think.

Lonsdale House and its unique crystalline tower, with a view of the 1990s skyscrapers which took inspiration from art deco towers.

Help.

Snapshot, Melbourne

Demolition in Little Bourke St, Thursday 14th August, 2:34pm.