Preservation Alert: Lonsdale House, Melbourne, Australia

Your assistance is sought in the battle to save one of Melbourne's most iconic buildings - Lonsdale House. Dating from 1935, the building was created by converting two 19th C warehouses into a stylish Moderne building, capped with a wonderful tower. Those that were at the Melbourne World Congress may recall seeing the building. It is on the edge of a department store precinct that is undergoing major upgrades. Whilst the other buildings in the project are included on the State Heritage Register, Lonsdale House is not. The owners have proposed demolition to enable an abutting lane to be doubled in width to allow delivery trucks to service the precinct, and to allow the construction of a large glass-fronted group of shops - this is called a hero statement, as it is intended to attract a major tenant!

The info below includes images of the building and details of how you can assist with opposing the demolition. We hope that you will support us in this major battle.

For organisations, please put any submissions on letterhead. Apologies if you have received more than one copy of this email. If you need any more information, please contact me.

Thanks and regards
Robin

Robin Grow,
President, Art Deco & Modernism Society, Inc
t I +613 98134365
m I 0412567923
e| robingrow@ozemail.com.au
w| www. artdeco.org.au
f I +613 98134436

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LONSDALE HOUSE – 269-273 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Lonsdale House is a major city building. Designed in 1935, it is located in the shopping precinct of Melbourne. It abuts a lane (Caledonian Lane), currently 4 metres wide. It is located in the same street as Myer Lonsdale Street department store. Myer also has a department store in Bourke Street, which is currently being upgraded (Stage 1)

Stage 2 of the redevelopment of the Myer precinct affects the Myer Lonsdale Street store includes the proposed demolition of Lonsdale House. Lonsdale House is not on the State Heritage Register. It is proposed that it be demolished and replaced with a new glass building that is essentially twice the height of Lonsdale House and totally out of character with the historic streetscape along Lonsdale Street. Lonsdale House is within the Post Office Precinct under the Heritage Overlay within the City of Melbourne Planning Scheme. It has been recognised as an important building within the city precinct since 1984. The City of Melbourne will have an input but has no authority in the planning decision.

The responsible authority is the Minister for Planning, due to the size of the project. He will decide on the approval/rejection/modification of the proposed plans for the site, including the modifications to Myer Lonsdale Street, the demolition of Lonsdale House, the approval of the proposed replacement building, and changes to Caledonian Lane to widen it. He will also decide as to whether an amendment will be made to the City of Melbourne Planning Scheme to remove Lonsdale House from the City of Melbourne Heritage Overlay (Post Office Precinct). Heritage aspects of the upgrade to the Myer store will be subject to control by Heritage Victoria, as the building is included on the State Heritage Register.

The Minister also has control over the level of consultation that will be undertaken and has decided that limited consultation will be undertaken. Submissions can be received until the 7th May from interested parties before the decision-making process commences. If the proposal is approved by the Minister, the result will be an ‘’incorporated document”.

Points that you may wish to include in any submission include:

Ø The potential loss of an historic building that represents one of the best examples of Art Deco styling in the city of Melbourne.
Ø The developers have stated that a proposal for adaptive re-use of the building has not been considered as viable. Our view is that the building could be modified to enable the required truck traffic to service the department stores.
Ø The developers have stated that there is a ‘gap’ in Melbourne’s shopping precinct that will be filled by the provision of the replacement building, and consider that any considerations of historic buildings are outweighed by the provision of a new set of shops. They use lots of jargon about retailing as if it is something magical. It is important to a city but is it important enough to demolish an historic building? We do not believe so.
Ø The key points of the proposed replacement building are:
o To provide a major entry point from Lonsdale Street to the new building and to Myer Lonsdale Street
o To use the new building to attract a major tenant - this is known as a “hero statement”
o To use Caledonian Lane as the major delivery route, servicing both Myer and David Jones department stores – it is proposed that Caledonian Lane be widened from 4m to 8m to facilitate trucks to enter and exit concurrently.

The Art Deco and Modernism Society of Melbourne, Australia's submission to the Minister included the following points:
• Lonsdale House is subject to the provisions of the Melbourne Planning Scheme and is included in a Heritage Overlay (HO 509 Post Office Precinct).
• It has a grading of C with a streetscape level 2.
• It was included in the Central Activities District Conservation Study by Graeme Butler (1984).
• The building is relatively intact, structurally sound, and has qualities that are representative of the Moderne style.
• Its retention would ensure that it continues to make a significant contribution to the historic streetscape of Lonsdale Street.
• The block makes a strong contribution to the architectural, social and historic character and appearance of the retail district associated with department stores
• Lonsdale House is a large five-storied landmark building that results from the conversion of a number of 19th century warehouses to a modern facility in 1934/5.
• It is one of Victoria’s best examples of the application of the Moderne style to a multistoried commercial premise.
• A major feature is the stepped tower at the parapet line, which is a combination of a
vertical section (painted a contrasting colour), horizontal planes beneath the flagpole, and semi-circular sections
• The building includes a number of other notable features associated with the Moderne style.
• Comparisons with Lonsdale House can be made to a number of other buildings in Central Melbourne that are regarded as exemplars of the Moderne style and which include retail and commercial facilities.
• The building retains a high degree of integrity, is substantially intact and could be adaptively re-used
• Lonsdale House represents an important trend in the commercial life of Melbourne, where large city buildings were occupied by numerous small businesses providing goods and products to the large department stores that were beginning to dominate Bourke Street.
• At time of construction, Lonsdale House was regarded as a building that would bring about further improvement in the area.
• The demolition of such a large building will have a serious effect on the environment of the City of Melbourne, including vehicle movements, storm water, sediment, dust, smell, material disposal, vibration, hours of work, hazardous material, and a range of other effects associated with the loss of embedded energy.
* The building is a major work by the prolific interwar architect I G Anderson. Whilst numerous examples of his work exist in Geelong, Tasmania and the suburbs of Melbourne, this is his only building in the city centre of Melbourne. His work is represented by other buildings on the Victorian State Heritage Register.

To view some of the dialogue about the building, a newspaper report, and to see some more images of the building, please go to:-

http://www.theage.com.au/national/pleas-to-preserve-art-deco-building-20...
http://www.walkingmelbourne.com/building593_lonsdale-house.html

Submissions can be lodged with the Minister’s department as follows:

Ms Kate Kraft
Acting Manager – Statutory Approvals
Department of Planning and Community Development
PO Box 500
EAST MELBOURNE VIC 3002

Email: kate.kraft@dpcp.vic.gov.au.
And/or the Minister for Planning directly - justin.madden@parliament.vic.gov.au
and CC the Melbourne City Council at planning@melbourne.vic.gov.au