Another Harry Norris building has been demolished, this one on the corner of City Road and Clarendon Street, Southbank. Designed by Norris in 1936 as the headquarters for James Hardie and Co, it was named Asbestos House, as many of the major building products manufactured and sold by the firm contained asbestos. Of course, this was in the days when …
Capitol Bakeries Building, cnr Chapel St & Toorak Rd, South Yarra (Summer 2016)
After a decade-long battle to preserve the Capitol building, demolition has commenced on this prominent South Yarra corner. The building started life as one of Melbourne’s cable-car engine-sheds before being converted to a bakery in 1936 after the trams were electrified. The makeover was designed by prolific local architect Harry Norris. The massive development of apartment blocks in South Yarra …
Eastwood Lodge, Glenside Mental Hospital, Adelaide (Winter 2013)
In the Summer 2010 edition of Spirit of Progress we featured an article by Marcus Beresford about a modernism nurses home built in the early 1950s at Glenside Mental Hospital in Adelaide and the efforts to preserve the building. Eastwood Lodge was provisionally state heritage listed, but the listing was then rescinded after pressure was applied to the State government, …
Arthur’s Seat Lookout Tower, Mornington Peninsula (Spring 2012)
The concrete lookout tower at the top of Arthur’s Seat on the Mornington Peninsula was a feature of the precinct since constructed by the Shire of Flinders (to a design by the Shire Engineer GW Brown) to commemorate the Victorian Centenary of 1934. Unfortunately the tower we recently demolished by Parks Victoria to make way for a new station for …
Millaa Millaa Cheese Factory (Summer 2012)
The Art Deco former Millaa Millaa Cheese Factory in Queensland has been demolished.
Penfold’s Building, former Cable Tram Building, cnr Victoria Pde & Brunswick St, Fitzroy (Summer 2010)
In 2008/09, ADMS was engaged in a long battle to preserve a former cable-car engine house that had been given a Moderne makeover in 1936 when it was converted to the headquarters of Penfolds Wines in Victoria. Eventually VCAT issued a demolition permit and the building was finally demolished in December 2009. It highlights the difficulty of preserving buildings that …
Lonsdale House, Lonsdale St, Melbourne (Summer 2010)
To the shame of the Victorian State government and the City of Melbourne, one of our most significant Art Deco buildings is awaiting demolition (and may well be gone before the end of summer).
Lonsdale House, Lonsdale St, Melbourne (Autumn 2010)
One of Melbourne’s iconic Art Deco buildings, Lonsdale House, was recently demolished by its owners, Colonial First State, with the support of Myer Pty Ltd, the State Government and the City of Melbourne. To the Minister for Planning, ‘heritage’ architects who supported the demolition, Heritage Victoria, and City Councillors – shame. To the thousands of people who signed on-line petitions …
Union Hall, Adelaide University (Autumn 2010)
After a major outcry against the proposed demolition of the 1950s Union Hall at Adelaide University, it has been provisionally heritage listed by the South Australian Heritage Council. Union Hall was decreed to be a rare example of theatre design representing the mid-20th century modernist style. The University had planned to demolish the hall and build a major new science …
Lonsdale House, Lonsdale St, Melbourne (Summer 2009)
The Myer Corporation and their corporate bankers, Colonial First State, have announced that they intend to lodge an application with the City of Melbourne for the demolition of Lonsdale House, a wonderful example of Moderne styling on an interwar commercial building. In 1934, the noted Melbourne architect, IG Anderson, transformed two 19th Century warehouses and capped the new building with …