Archive for October, 2008

Terrible news for the heritage of Greater Melbourne …

157 years would have had made it one of the oldest hotels in the state.

Historic Diggers Rest Hotel destroyed by fire

Article from: Herald Sun

Staff writers and wires

October 30, 2008 11:20am

A 157-year-old hotel was destroyed by fire north-west of Melbourne overnight and police are treating the blaze as suspicious.

Firefighters were called to The Diggers Rest Hotel, about 30km from Melbourne, just before midnight but there was nothing they could do to save the historic hotel.

Fire Officer Joel Davey said 55 firefighters from surrounding regions fought the blaze for 90 minutes but the two storey 20m-by-60m building could not be saved.

An arson chemist will investigate the fire , which started about 11.30pm last night and caused more than $1 million damage, the Sunbury Leader reports.

It was believed to be deliberately lit.

The historic hotel was unoccupied at the time as it was closed for renovations.

Its owner had been hoping to reopen by Christmas.

Hotel licensee Brett Commisso said he was still in a state of shock.

“I’m still coming to terms with it – I can’t believe it,’’  he said.

“I just got a call from the police to say the hotel’s on fire.

“I went there and opened the door and there was fire coming down the stairs. There was nothing I could do.”

Mr Commisso took over the hotel about a year ago.

He said he had spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars” renovating it.

“Because the building’s so old, it just needed a lot of work,” he said.

“We had a few hiccups but we got through them all. It’s now all gone to waste.”

Diggers Rest Fire Brigade Lieutenant Tim Welshe said about 15 local units attended the fire.

He said the building was well alight when firefighters arrived.

“It took us about two hours to get the fire under control,” he said.

“We couldn’t enter the building as it was so structurally unsound, so firefighters wearing BA (breathing apparatus) took up full defensive positions outside the hotel.

“It’s literally the pub with no beer now.”

Detective Sen-Constable Michael McCormack from Melton CIU said police were treating the fire as suspicious.

“Information received from the fire units that attended about the spread of the fire lead police to believe the fire was suspicious,”he said.

“We estimate the damage in excess of $1 million, the building is 157 years old and virtually unrepairable.

“I’m sure it will need to be demolished at some stage.”

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Spotted on RealEstatesource.com.au, Marc Pallisco has published a rumour that the magnificent Edzell mansion  at 76 St Georges Road Toorak which recently changed hands for an undisclosed is about to be restored.

Edzell designed by Reed Smart & Tappin in 1892 is one of Tooraks major landmarks and is listed by both Heritage Victoria and National Trust.  While barely visible from St Georges road through the thick trees, it is one of the few remaining massive old mansions viewable from the Yarra River with its distinctive Edwardian baroque tower and Queen Anne roof and gables.

Edzell. 76 St George's Road, Toorak from the driveway from the archives of the State Library of Victoria

St Georges Road was once home to many grand mansions, but many were demolished in the 1960s and 1970s for flat and unit development.  More recently its character has been restored somewhat with a number of sympathetic (and not to mention very expensive) private developments.

It is great to see someone taking pride in Melbourne’s heritage.  We’ll be watching this one with interest.

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The National Trust informs me that one of Melbourne’s icons is about to be restored.

The skyscraper gothic Manchester Unity building is on one of Melbourne’s most prominent  the corner of Collins and Swanston streets in the CBD at 220 Collins Street.   The 1932  building was, like the Grace building in Sydney, inspired by the Chicago Tribune Tower.

Manchester Unity Building from City Square

The Manchester Unity building is about to get its detailed faience facade repaired and major maintenance and restoration work done which is great news.  The building features fine details including statuary on top of its faceted bay windows, window dressings and tower gothic buttresses.

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Belvedere, one of St Kilda’s most beloved landmarks is up for sale.  The 1927 apartment block on the corner of Upper Esplanade and Robe Street is perhaps most notable for its Spanish Mission styled tower, the setting for the cult television show “The Secret Life of Us” which screened between 2001 and 2005.

While the building is heritage registered and protected by law, the estate agents are advertising its development potential (the addition of an extra storey) subject to council approval.

Such a development would likely be pushed for by any new owner as this is one of the medium to low rise apartment buildings which is directly affected by the Triangle development opposite and would most likely block views of the sea from the lower level apartments (this may well be the reason that the original owners all sold out).  However such a development would compromise the most significant feature – the tower – and severely impact the heritage quality of this building.

Any such development would also require approval from Heritage Victoria.

However in recent times, anything is possible when the state government and VCAT becomes involved.  Nevertheless we will be watching this one closely.

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Viewed from Robe Street

Koombalah - 27 Grey Street

Koombalah at 27 Grey Street St Kilda on the corner of Jackson Street, is a significant Federation Queen Anne end terrace which is currently in a severely neglected state. The building bears a bronzed art noveau plaque with its name “Koombalah” and features two prominent tudor style gables, an imposing chimney and faceted bay window.

While one part of this duplex is the home to a Salvation Army Crisis Centre, the other half has been derelict for many years. In recent months, the whole building was boarded up (with security cameras in place obviously to deter drug users and squatters) and the corner balcony and window frames have rapidly decayed to a point nearly beyond repair and the chimney has been simply propped up by wire.

Rubble and Weeds

The building, deep in the area of the corner of Fitzroy and Grey Streets is classified as as a “significant place” in 2007 the City of Port Phillip’s heritage overlay strategy. But its owners, the state government (Department of Human Services) appears to have a different definition of significant place, as according to council records, they have apparently not maintained it since 2003 when they did some minor roof repair when they requested permission to install a sunlight only to remove one of the chimneys altogether ….

One can only hope that they do this beautiful building justice before this it falls down completely.

I have created a couple of new label categories for this kind of thing, “neglected buildings” and “derelict buildings”.

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