Please join us to protest the slated demolition of the historically-significant Scots Church Hall and associated buildings.

At risk is an entire streetscape of historic buildings including the hall, an Art Deco car park and the Edwardian Beath Scheiss & Felsted fabric building.

Show your support by joining Melbourne Heritage Action behind Scots Church, corner Russell and Collins Streets this Friday 24 February 2012, at 11am.

We’d love to see as many people in attendance as possible.

Once simply a place for rubbish bins or delivery carts, they are now sought-after for their raw and ‘hidden’ character.

Many of Melbourne’s lanes are paved with bluestone cobbles and run between the backs or sides of often older buildings that have remained unchanged and unpainted, often in contrast to their modernised fronts. There are many older buildings that only have a frontage onto laneways. These buildings tend to be overlooked in heritage studies. Many of these buildings provide access to the upper floors of older buildings via the back entrance.

None of these facts are reflected in the current City of Melbourne laneways policy, which focuses mainly on their usefulness for providing pedestrian access though city blocks. Heritage is only taken into account if a lane happens to be within a heritage precinct. The majority of Melbourne’s lanes are outside these areas.

Aside from whether they provide pedestrian thoroughfares, the following factors should be taken into consideration when assessing lanes for heritage value:

1. A unique history or pattern of development
2. A strong heritage character (typically with bluestone paving and old brick walls)
3. Whether they provide direct access to older buildings

(Photos: Tristan Davies and Rohan Storey)

It appears that Council preferred to accept the developer’s advice that the building was not worthy of preservation, rather than their own heritage adviser’s, who recommended listing the structure.

The Lord Mayor weighed into the debate during a sitting of Council, stating his view that the developers bought the building “in good faith” and that this heritage matter had just come up “at the last moment”. He also stated that he did not support interim heritage controls, even though they are designed for situations exactly like this where a building’s significance is only examined when demolition is proposed.

The Burton & Co building was built as one of a pair of matching buildings with a yard between (now occupied by an altered Edwardian factory) and represent the last remaining livery/carriage works within the City of Melbourne. There was once more than a dozen within the CBD alone.

The building is a great example of Victorian-era architecture, with three bays of paired arched windows and an elaborate cornice, and a characteristic brown brick side wall on a lane, complete with original windows openings, a bricked up arch and even a night-soil hatch.

Photos by Tristan Davies.

The 1928 Scots Church Hall, the 1938 Victoria Car Park and the 1910 warehouse will all be lost (except for the Little Collins façade of the car park) for a 12 storey glass box.

This is an image of its general height and bulk (the façade is actually far plainer) sitting behind the Scots’ Church tower, a view that was never prepared by the developer, for obvious reasons:

Here are some of the buildings that will be lost, photographed in 2010:

(B&W photo by Adam Dimech)

Now nothing stands in the way of the developers to begin work on the Windsor Hotel, which includes a huge tower that will ‘smash height guidelines for the area’ and involve the demolition of parts of the rear of the historic hotel itself.

Our concern is not just for the Windsor Hotel but also for the precedent being set. How long before other proposals for tall buildings in this relatively ‘low rise’ part of Melbourne’s CBD begin to be approved?

We urge all our supporters to send a message to the Baillieu Government, to Heritage Victoria and to the developers that this is not what Melburnians want happening to their city.

People to contact:

Planning Minister Matthew Guy matthew.guy@parliament.vic.gov.au

Premier Ted Baillieu ted.baillieu@parliament.vic.gov.au

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle lordmayor@melbourne.vic.gov.au (ask council to register their
protest at this inappropriate development)

If you missed commenting on The Age article you can submit a comment to their letters page http://www.theage.com.au/national/letters/submit/

Concerned Melburnians may also be interested in the following relevant links:

National Trust campaign site:
http://www.nattrust.com.au/advocacy/campaigns/windsor_hotel/

An example of an old hotel restored with sensitivity and respect for heritage The Savoy Hotel in London http://www.architecturenewsplus.com/projects/1117/

At this meeting we will report on our significant achievements over the past 12 months and discuss our plans for the forthcoming year.

We will also hold elections for leadership positions in the 2011/2012 year.

Any member of MHA is eligible to stand for any role.

At present the following people have been nominated for the 2011/2012 committee:
President – Rupert Mann
Vice-president - Sharne Thomas
Treasurer - Tristan Davies
Secretary - Katrina Grant

Please note that to be eligible to vote on any motions at the meeting you must be a current financial member of the National Trust of Victoria. All financial members are eligible to nominate for a position on the leadership committee.

To join or renew your subscription please visit the National Trust memberships page or call (03) 9656 9800. Non-members will be able to join on the night.

Location:

‘The Gallery’, Tasma Terrace,
National Trust of Australia (Victoria) Headquarters,
4 Parliament Place,
East Melbourne,
Victoria, 3002.

Melway: Page 2F, Reference K2.

Date: Monday 10th October, 6:30pm (for a 7:00pm start).

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Melbourne Heritage Action.

Perhaps your workplace has a beautiful old hall that only staff can access? Maybe you live in a block of flats with a beautiful modern interior that only the residents get to see.

Melbourne Heritage Action is looking for your help to discover some of the best hidden unlisted interiors within Melbourne’s CBD.

We’re asking you to submit your pictures. The best photo will win a prize!

Simply go to http://www.melbourneheritage.org.au/closed-house/ for all the details. Competition closes Saturday 24 December, 2011.

As can be seen, an extended “box” has appeared on top of the Bourke Street extension. This space will contain a swimming pool and gymnasium.

Melbourne Heritage Action is concerned that in addition to the gargantuan tower behind, this latest addition will further undermine the intended scale of the Windsor Hotel building. In particular, the majestic view from Gordon Reserve will be further compromised.

Unfortunately the Windsor Hotel development has been approved by the State Government, but the Department of Planning & Community Development is currently accepting submissions in relation to the “box”. You can see the plans here.

The original plans for the Windsor Hotel redevelopment also contained a “box” but the Minister for Planning required that it be smaller and the Heritage Council required that several floors be removed from the building extension below it. Now, the developers have asked to have the box reinstated on the lower building.

If you’d like to lodge an objection, submissions will be accepted until 7 July 2011. More information is available on the DPCD website.

The council’s planning committee this week unanimously approved a recommendation to extend heritage protection to 98 buildings in the CBD, including the Lindrum Hotel on Flinders Street, the Argus building on La Trobe Street and the ACA building on Queen Street. Melbourne Heritage Action welcomes this development.

The bad news is that 171 Collins involves the construction of a prismatic glass tower on the Flinders Lane side that is 77 metres high, where the ‘advisory’ height limit is 40 metre. That’s nearly double, but not as high as the originally-proposed 88 metres!

Nevertheless, the new building will not only stick out in views of the city from St Kilda Rd and Princes Bridge, but even form a new backdrop to St Paul’s Cathedral when viewed from Flinders Street Station steps.

It is to be clad in ‘fritted’ glass (like the Windsor tower) with the architect’s renderings implying that it would always be the colour of the sky, which of course will only happen in the right conditions.

In 2007, the tower was given a permit by both Heritage Victoria (not appealable) and the former Minister for Planning (which meant that the height limit issue couldn’t be appealed), and it is now being built.

So much for good planning, any process of review, or maintaining the low 40 metre scale of the central retail area.