Award of Heritage Floor Space
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ATTACHMENT B ATTACHMENT B CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN ATTACHMENT B 142-144 PITT STREET, SYDNEY C ONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN Prepared for Gwynvill Properties May 2012 Issue B ATTACHMENT B 142-144 PITT STREET, SYDNEY – CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 142-144 Pitt Street was designed by architects Adolphus Gustavus Morell in association with R H Robertson. It was constructed for the Australian Mutual Fire Insurance Society and completed in June 1883. The three storey building, an exuberant essay in the Victorian Free Classical style, originally boasted a tall tower rising above the intersection of King and Pitt Streets and figurative groups of symbolic statuary by Tomaso Sani mounted above the King and Pitt Street façades. 142-144 Pitt Street made (and continues to make) a distinguished contribution to this part of the City of Sydney. The building was modified in 1919 to the design of Robertson & Marks after the Australian Mutual Fire Insurance Society relocated to other premises in September that year. Its ground floor was adapted for retail uses, an awning was installed, and shopfronts replaced original ground floor windows and doors. Significant elements, including the tower and statuary, were removed. 142-144 Pitt Street was sold to Saunders Limited in January 1935 and underwent further modification, again to the design of Robertson & Marks. The building remained in the possession of Saunders Limited until 1987, during which time it underwent further modification and occupation by a succession of tenants. It was then acquired by Portmans Consolidated Pty Ltd, which sold it to Gwynvill Syndicate in 1990. Major refurbishment and conservation works took place between 2002 and 2011. 142-144 Pitt Street is significant at several levels: • It is a fine and uncommon example of a Victorian Free Classical style commercial building constructed for a successful insurance company; • The building is associated with a prominent architectural practice, that of Gustavus Augustus Morell, who designed the building around the beginning of the 1880s. Despite later modifications that removed important architectural features including the tower, statuary, external ground floor fabric and internal fabric, the building still retains architectural significance; • The building provides historical evidence of the growth and consolidation of economic prosperity in Sydney during the second half of the nineteenth century and the subsequent shifts in the way the City of Sydney functioned during the early twentieth century, particularly the changes in the location of retailing activity; • The building is a highly significant component of the local streetscape and part of an important group of Victorian and Federation era commercial buildings in this part of Sydney. The conservation policies, which are set out in Section 7, are intended to assist in the long term use, maintenance and conservation of the site. These policies are intended to manage change rather than prohibit it. Each policy is supported by guidelines to ensure that future decisions are made in an informed manner, to ensure the conservation of the building’s heritage significance. The conservation policies provide the essential guiding aims for the building, which should be adopted by the owner and the relevant approval authorities. 1. The Statement of Cultural Significance should be accepted as one of the bases for future planning and conservation works to the building. TANNER ARCHITECTS MAY 2012 – ISSUE B i ATTACHMENT B 142-144 PITT STREET, SYDNEY – CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN 2. The future conservation and development of the place should be carried out in accordance with the principles of the Australia ICOMOS Charter for the Conservation of Places of Cultural Significance (Burra Charter). 3. The approach and options recommended for the conservation of specific fabric, spaces, elements and qualities of the place should be endorsed as a guide to future work, the recommendations having been related to the principles of the Burra Charter. 4. Care should be taken in any future development to avoid or minimise any adverse effect on the quality of the building within its context. ii MAY 2012 – ISSUE B TANNER ARCHITECTS ATTACHMENT B 142-144 PITT STREET, SYDNEY – CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN Document / status register Issue Date Purpose Written Approved P1 November 2011 Client review RL A 2 March 2012 Final Issue RL JJ, CMJ B 30 May 2012 Revised final issue RL JJ TANNER ARCHITECTS MAY 2012 – ISSUE B iii ATTACHMENT B 142-144 PITT STREET, SYDNEY – CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 PURPOSE OF THE REPORT................................................................................................ 1 1.2 STUDY AREA ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 REPORT METHODOLOGY AND STRUCTURE .................................................................... 2 1.4 AUTHOR IDENTIFICATION................................................................................................... 2 1.5 LIMITATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 3 1.6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...................................................................................................... 3 1.7 DEFINITIONS........................................................................................................................ 3 1.8 ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................. 4 2 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW ................................................................................................... 5 2.1 EARLY SITE HISTORY ......................................................................................................... 5 2.2 THE AUSTRALIAN MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE SOCIETY ................................................... 8 2.3 THE AMFIS BUILDING ......................................................................................................... 9 2.4 SUBSEQUENT HISTORY ................................................................................................... 14 3 PHYSICAL ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................... 20 3.1 BUILDING EXTERIOR......................................................................................................... 20 3.2 BUILDING INTERIOR.......................................................................................................... 22 3.3 SETTING AND CONTEXT................................................................................................... 27 4 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS.............................................................................................. 32 4.1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. 32 4.2 THE GROWTH OF NINETEENTH CENTURY INSURANCE................................................. 32 4.3 A CONSTRUCTION BOOM ................................................................................................ 33 4.4 ADAPTIVE REUSE.............................................................................................................. 37 5 ASSESSMENT OF HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE............................................................... 40 5.1 PREVIOUS ASSESSMENTS OF HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE .............................................. 40 5.1.1 State Heritage Register.......................................................................................... 40 5.1.2 City of Sydney Local Environmental Plan Listing .................................................... 40 5.1.3 Australian Heritage Council.................................................................................... 40 5.1.4 National Trust of Australia (NSW) ........................................................................... 40 5.2 ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE.................................................................. 41 5.2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 41 5.2.2 Assessment against Criteria .................................................................................. 41 5.3 SUMMARY STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE..................................................................... 42 5.4 RELATIVE SIGNIFICANCE OF SPACES, ELEMENTS AND FABRIC ................................... 43 5.4.1 Exceptional significance......................................................................................... 44 5.4.2 High Significance................................................................................................... 44 5.4.3 Moderate Significance ........................................................................................... 44 5.4.4 Low Significance ................................................................................................... 45 5.4.5 Neutral Significance............................................................................................... 45 5.4.6 Intrusive Elements ................................................................................................. 45 iv MAY 2012 – ISSUE B TANNER ARCHITECTS ATTACHMENT B 142-144 PITT STREET, SYDNEY – CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT