Posts Tagged ‘lonsdale house’

The battle to save Melbourne landmark Lonsdale House may end next week with the heritage listed building's demolition

A reliable source has informed us that a demolition crew has been appointed to raze the art deco landmark Lonsdale House and demolition is due to begin in less than 2 weeks time.

The Save Lonsdale House group along with the National Trust and Art Deco Society has fought hard and long to save this building.  The group presented the City of Melbourne, State Government and developers Colonial First State and Myer with a petition of 3,252 signatures from concerned Victorians.

Earlier this year the City of Melbourne betrayed its own planning scheme and heritage controls in approving the demolition, City of Melbourne planning committee chairman Cr Peter Clarke pointing the finger at ministerial intervention in planning and heritage matters.  The council has since profited from the sale of the laneways to the developer including Caledonian Lane – home of the laneway festival.

The planning minister Justin Madden recently affirmed the government’s priority for business over democracy with his official response to the petition and public backlash being that the removal of Lonsdale House was justified in order to “enhance the retail dominance of the Post Office Precinct”.   The government, who sided with the developer to claim that retention of Lonsdale House was “not possible”, has also recently met embarassment with enthusiastic RMIT students exposing the lies.

In a nutshell a Melbourne landmark is being lost to widen an already functional laneway to accomodate more delivery trucks.  This is a tragedy for Melbourne art deco and unique heritage in general and may well signify the beginning of a new era for Melbourne  – out with the old.

With the battle all but over, Save Lonsdale House supporters may wish to take their protest to the next state election on November 26, 2010.

Mock newspaper headline for RMIT student's plan for Lonsdale House Revival

In July, the State Government, City of Melbourne and Colonial First State made the public statement that is was “not possible” to retain the Melbourne heritage landmark Lonsdale House as part of the Emporium development and approved its demolition.  NH Architects claimed that it was not able to both make a cutting edge architectural statement and widen Caledonian lane for more trucks.  Politicians bleated that Melbourne would be better without Lonsdale House and that destruction was the only way to create more jobs.  Despite National Trust proof of concept designs, the developers convinced the authorities that it was not acceptable evidence that it could be achieved as the plan lacked sufficient architectural detail or credence.  Well some RMIT students recently set out to prove them all wrong.

Young Architects group which established in Sep 2009 with three group members including Kun Cheng and Nik Elani Nik Aminaldin (known as Ella) told Melbourne Heritage Watch that they so strongly oppose the demolition that they decided to make saving it the subject of their final design project. Under the banner “Lonsdale House Revival”, they aimed to prove the feasibility of retaining the heritage building and even prepared a mock newspaper headline (pictured right) to spruik their work.

The designs feature the retention of the heritage facade and heritage features as a key artistic statement.

By highlighting the stark qualities of the moderne style and windows of Lonsdale House it also provides a neutral backdrop to highlight its more interesting features including the decorative tower and art deco details.  The interesting approach creates a visual contrast by at once achieving a deliberate look of a “floating” stuck on and independent building with setbacks – to emphasize the old and new.   A large blank wall would provide ample space for the addition of a screens similar to that of the new Age headquarters.  Huge floating quirky coloured balls create significant visual interest for Caledonian lane and draw attention from Swanston Street and according to the architects could also function as large “show boxes” to promote products and for people to wander into to enjoy Melbourne city views.  A long skinny lane way on top of Lonsdale House could also be an outdoor cafe.

The student group have created a full set of architectural drawings and 3D models and have worked within the guidelines of the development project including cost and time constraints.

Lonsdale House Revival render and plans

“We would like to retain the heritage as there are not many art deco buildings surviving in the city.Besides, eight meters is way too wide for truck access. We can have many other activities in the existing laneway instead of truck delivery which only happens in the early morning when there are not many people around. We want to make the laneway more interesting and alive” says Ella.

“The attractive balls could easily catch people’s attention especially from Swanston street which is really a good sign.” Says Kun.

Lonsdale House Revival 3D walkthrough

The work represents an admirable and impressive effort to achieve the best of both worlds, something which the powers to be don’t seem to have the will ….

Minister for Planning Justin Madden attended an online chat session today as part of a “Your Say” series put together by the state government and a few of the questions put to him were inevitably about heritage issues, particularly the controversial demolition of Lonsdale House.

While the question put by Melbourne Heritage Watch didn’t make the cut, we wouldn’t mind having the last say.

There were some good questions put nonetheless and some excerpts of which appear below.

Email from Mark

Can you re-iterate your justification in ignoring the status of the heritage overlay listed Lonsdale House in order to make a wider laneway which will also happen to fill the coffers of the City of Melbourne? What do you say to the 2,500+ strong petitions against it?

Minister’s answer

Thanks for your question.   In deciding to approve the redevelopment, the retention of Lonsdale House was carefully considered.

However it was decided that the removal of Lonsdale House was a necessary part of the future development of this strategic site.

Lonsdale House is not listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.   It is included within the Post Office Precinct and has local significance under the heritage planning control in the Melbourne Planning Scheme.

The wider heritage values of the Post Office Precinct are focused on the retail uses of the area, and I decided that in order to enhance the retail dominance of the Post Office Precinct the removal of Lonsdale House was justified.

Melbourne Heritage would like to know the minister’s definition of “carefully considered” as we cannot find record of any parliamentary debate, public notice or consultation by the government prior to sign off on the development.

Not sure exactly what is meant here by “retail dominance”.  The site is already dominated by retail.  It has been zoned commercial for some time, I don’t think there was ever any threat of it becoming say residential or industrial.

And finally, I’d like to know exactly what is meant by the term “strategic site”.  Is it the future launch zone of a missile silo ?  Perhaps a secret bunker for our politicians to hide from heritage issues … ??

[Comment From Kat]
Does the minister consider preserving and promoting Melbourne’s architectural heritage to be an important part of his role?

Justin Madden:  Of course, like most people I  believe conserving Victoria’s heritage is important and architectural heritage is just one of the elements that makes this State great!   Its also a part of my porfolio responsibilities.

Certainly pleased that heritage is considered important and is a responsibility of the minister although some recent decisions would suggest otherwise.

And “Porfolio” – a Freudian slip or simple spelling mistake ?

[Comment From robin grow]
What is the Minister’s response to the extraordinary support amongst the people of Melbourne against the demolition of Lonsdale House for the widening of a lane. Will the Minister reconsider his decision to demolish one of Melbourne’s iconic Art Deco buildings?

Justin Madden: Hi Robin, hope you are well. On this issue, Lonsdale House is not listed on the Victorian Heritage Register, it was considered by Heritage Victoria who chose not to list it.

This site is very important to the future of Melbourne’s CBD and whilst it is sad to see the building go, the development will ensure jobs for many Melburnians.

a) Are buildings on the Victorian Heritage Register the only ones protected, if so, then only a fraction of our heritage buildings are actually protected.

b) Heritage Victoria is one of the minister’s departments.

c) Assuming that by important for the future of Melbourne’s CBD, it is meant to compete with suburban shopping malls, there has been much discussion to the effect that Melbourne’s best way of competing is to retain its key differentiator – a unique heritage shopping experience.

d) In acknowledging the sadness of the cultural loss of an iconic art deco building to Melburnians, the justification offered is that it is nothing more than a sacrificial lamb.

e) Melbourne Heritage Watch fails to see why incorporating Lonsdale House into the development would have created any less jobs. Has the minister factored into this equation cultural tourism jobs generated or lost. For instance the highly successful recent World Art Deco congress and National Gallery of Victoria Art Deco exhibition in Melbourne ?

f) The minister did not answer this question – we take it this means he is not willing to reconsider his position.

While we appreciate the effort of e-democracy, Melbourne Heritage Watch is not satisfied with the glib response to these concerns about genuine heritage issues.

Around 200 people gathered at Lonsale Street at midday on Saturday 22nd to rally against the demolition of Lonsdale House – one of the biggest rallies to save a CBD building in recent decades but a relatively small and vocal group nonetheless.

The crowd, boosted by the presence of some Victorian based Art Deco and Modernism Society members and a brief article in the morning Age, braved the wind and now derelict conditions of the Caledonian Lane surrounds to make a statement about our city’s history and future.

After raising of some banners and placards and starting some chants, the group marched down Swanston Street to rally outside of Melbourne Town Hall.

Over 300 more signatures to the group’s petitions to save the heritage listed building were collected on the day.

ABC1 Melbourne and the Melbourne Times were the only media who decided to cover the event which is unfortunate for the organisers who have struggled to be noticed by the mainstream media other than The Age.  However the ABC article, featured below, provided a balanced view of the situation.

On a side note, there is an interesting parallel on the other side of the world.  The former Katt Drug Store, hailed for its “distinctive tower” built in downtown Kansas City USA in 1934  has not only been heritage listed but lovingly restored by a developer who is incorporating a retail development with the help of state government tax contributions.  The tower is similar in some ways to Lonsdale House but less decorative and  built the very same year as Lonsdale House.   Could it be possible that our attitudes are actually behind the rest of the world rather than progressive as our governments claim ….

Lonsdale House on the cover of Robin Grow's book Melbourne Art Deco (used with permission)

A reminder to all readers that a rally to Save Lonsdale House (stop its complete demolition) will be held tommorow (Saturday) at 12pm (midday) outside of Lonsdale House on Lonsdale Street.  The rally will be held off Caledonian Lane which is located between Swanston Street and the Melbourne Central skybridge.

Save Lonsdale House believes that this heritage listed art deco landmark should definitely not be lost simply to widen a lane for delivery trucks.

If you haven’t already confirmed your attendance, you can do so on Facebook.

So far there are 200 confirmed, but more are needed to get Town Hall to notice.  With over 2,500 signatures including 1,800 on the online petition, it is hoped that the State Government and the developer Colonial First State Property Management may reconsider the complete demolition and integrate at least some of Lonsdale House into the new development.

So bring your friends and help make this a successful event !