Glebe Society Bulletin 2007 Issue 04
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Adaptive reuse Two success stories Bellevue On Tuesday 1 May, David Stevenson, architect of Lacoste and Stevenson, and Gary Waller, of G & C Waller Builders, provided a fascinating presentation of the conservation and adaptive reuse of Bellevue, on Blackwattle Bay. The audience of fifty Glebe Society members and friends were particularly pleased and impressed by the slides used to 4/2007 May/June illustrate the talk of both presenters. It reminded us of the extreme state of dilapidation the building had been reduced to, and showed wonderful details of the techniques used and outcomes Our presenters (l to r) David Stevenson, Lise achieved. Morgan and Gary Waller. Thanks are especially due to Diane Gray, Photo: Phil Young Katharine Vernon and Dorothy Davis for the planning that went into the event, and assistance manager, was very supportive, and the Council on the day from Neil, Anne and many others. assisted by making Bellevue available, allowing us to borrow chairs and tables free of charge, and I especially want to thank the City Council for by providing payment for the speakers. their enthusiastic assistance in making this presentation possible. Lise Morgan, the project - Jan Macindoe “upside down” four bedroom home. The archi- Toxteth Uniting tect has designed a glass and steel structure with a mezzanine floor that “clips” inside the church. Church The kitchen and living rooms are on this level, under the beams of the original vaulted ceiling. On Friday evening, 18 May, many members and other Glebe residents accepted the invitation to The conversion is reversible, so the building visit the former Uniting Church at 19a Toxteth could be turned back into a church in the future. Road which has been converted to residential use Bulletin by the well-known heritage architect Otto Five years ago, in 7/2002, Neil Macindoe Cserhalmi. made this comment in his Planning Report: From the outside the building appears to be Toxteth Uniting Church, 19 Toxteth Road unchanged, but inside it has become a modern This temple, with the accompanying Hutchinson Memorial Hall (1898), is proposed to become residential. Some years ago the Uniters moved to the old City Mission Hall in St Johns Road, and more recently the kindergarten in Hutchinson Hall moved to St Brendan’s Hall, Johnston Street, Annandale. Since then various unsuitable schemes have been mooted, but the present solution, whereby each building becomes a separate dwelling, with small extensions at the rear and fairly minimal alteration, is more acceptable, in the absence of any religious revival. Now let’s see what happens to the Abbey site. Glebe Society Bulletin The church and, on the right, the church hall. - Edwina Doe Photo courtesy Ray White Real Estate A publication of THE GLEBE SOCIETY INC PO Box 100 GLEBE 2037 www.glebesociety.org.au Planning Matters 21 Toxteth Road under Part 3, Heritage Conservation, and objections will not be treated as also under Schedule 2, Heritage Items. confidential; There is an application to demolish the Both are accessible on the web. • notwithstanding that, a person may small 1950s cottage and erect a much request that their objection (and/or larger, modern, two storey dwelling. This The Bernard and Kate Smith book, The Architectural Character of Glebe, their identity) be treated as confiden- site is next to Toxteth Church, a Heritage tial; Item recently converted to residential use. Sydney, published in 1973, is primarily an The Society will object because of its illustrated description of architectural • if an FOI request is made for the excessive size, and also because the styles that still has currency throughout objection, including the objector’s identity, the usual practice is that: design uses materials that don’t occur in Australia. It is definitely not a list of Toxteth Road, namely a metal screen and Heritage Items. Unfortunately, because (a) the objector will be consulted; weatherboard. many people have a copy and find it (b) the objection will be disclosed to easier to access than the actual Heritage the FOI applicant; A Voice from the Past Study, which is in Glebe Library, people (c) the identity of the objector, and I enjoyed the article by Robert Darroch, in are sometimes tempted to use the Smith any identifying remarks in the Bulletin 3/2007, immensely. It had a book in an inappropriate way. objection (eg I live next door...) will vividness and immediacy that brought Confidentiality of Objections not be disclosed if the objector’s those early days to life. Glebe historians concern is related to their safety if please note! Members may be interested to know that their identity is made known to the their identity can be protected in certain DA applicant; It also reminded me in my role as Planning circumstances when they object to a DA. (d) in other circumstances, the Convenor that one of the two major Following is the advice from the City’s planks in the defence of Glebe is our objector’s identity may be made legal advisors: known to the FOI applicant. Heritage controls. These are contained largely in Local Environment Plan 2000 • the DA notification form states that - Neil Macindoe that, and destroy forever the northern I believe that, irrespective of which party Letters to view of Anzac Bridge across the water. is in power, fighting for heritage sites should not only mean a case for bricks The Dry Boat Storage for more than 670 the Editor and mortar, but also fighting for our boats with marinas, berths, boat sale waterways and foreshores, and sadly that facilities, catering (surely with loud music does not appear to have the same impor- over weekends) etc. etc, may not yet have Dear Editor tance for many people in Glebe. Vale passed the post entirely, but it is going Rozelle Bay! Tony Larkum’s piece on Safety on the through, make no mistake! Information Bay, in Bulletin 3/2007, should remind us about this DA can similarly be found in Mia Campioni that the developments of the Dry Boat the Director General’s report on the Dear Editor Storage and the Sydney Slipways are a Department of Planning website. total disaster for Rozelle Bay. The DA for In the last Bulletin Neil Macindoe wrote the latter has been passed by the Minister Unfortunately I believe party politics about the loss of Bruce Ley from (of course in the busy December month), played a role here in Glebe, otherwise I am Leichhardt Council. Neil writes “it is and the other will surely follow this at a loss why there were no attempts made difficult to imagine Leichhardt Council December. If anyone cares to find out to insist that these plans were scrapped, without him”. what we are in for with the Slipways, I and that the proposed developments The small send off held for him at the direct you to the NSW Government could possibly be located at the Bridge Leichhardt Town Hall, which I attended Department of Planning website: Road old coal loader bunker and gate- with other grieving residents, was a www.planning.nsw.gov.au/asp/pdf/ house on Blackwattle Bay, where they testament to his standing with the people 05_0187director-generals_report.pdf. would have formed a settlement of who live in the area. working harbour facilities with the Fish This report shows clearly that the Sydney Bruce was always accessible, with good Markets (and incorporating the heritage Slipways, “the biggest boat maintenance advice and good humour. He has left his gatehouse etc), while not creating residen- facility on Sydney Harbour”, will cater stamp on our suburbs and I earnestly mainly for 45m boats, employ 140 people, tial impacts and problems of water traffic. hope that this stamp will be allowed to operate 24/7, create major chemical fumes Instead that site gets an utterly wasteful remain. As Neil writes, I believe he was and flying particles, which will spill out via development for $30 million of “commer- undervalued by most Council staff and chimney stacks, and also from outside cial buildings” and no doubt the rest will alderpersons. treatment of boats directly, spill foul water be a dead memorial to previous harbour into the Bay, contribute untold noise activities. What a waste and what a pity! Yours sincerely during 6 months of construction and after Betty Mason, Annandale 2 Glebe Society Bulletin Minister likely to approve dry boat storage A second boat inspection trip was held on For the rowers the concern is early • Wash created by motor boats, ampli- Saturday, 28 April. This time it was morning and dusk. Curfews may help the fied by the shallow waters and sea- attended by Frank Sartor, Minister of problem here. For the Dragon boats, the walls, would create dangerously Planning, as well as Verity Firth, Minister problem will be during the day and unstable water conditions for passive for Women, Science and Medicine. especially at weekends. boating Officials from NSW Maritime and Sydney The proposal is for a boat storage capac- Rowers and dragon boats would be Harbour Foreshore Authority, representa- • ity of 670 motor boats up to 12m in length. tives from the rowing community and the forced to use parts of the bay which It is estimated, conservatively, that this dragon boat community and Mark Dent are dangerous because of shallow will double the boat movements in this from the Glebe Society also attended. waters, the presence of swing moor- restricted area. At weekends the number Minister Sartor seemed convinced that the ings, or lack of visibility at the corner of boat movements is estimated as development should go ahead with of the two Bays approximately 650. conditions to power boating activities, as • Gridlock would be created at the Glebe follows: The combined effect of the danger of Island Bridge passage – the only point accidents from the wash created by 1) a 4-knot speed limit in Rozelle and of entry and exit to the two Bays.