Historic Home becomes High Rise

It’s the perennial Sydney metropolitan development debate and it goes something like this …

• We all agree that existing low density areas should be redeveloped into high density living to stop urban sprawl and better use existing social infrastructure
• So, houses in areas near railway stations, other transport nodes, schools, hospitals, etc should be demolished for apartments
• But when a developer finds a large house and tries there’s a good reason why it should not happen like – it’s historic, it’s the only one of it’s kind left in the area, there’s a beautiful tree there that everyone likes, I remember it from my childhood, where will the boy and girl scouts meet, etc, etc.

So, redevelopment has to go somewhere else.

It happens all the time as this recent Burwood example shows.

Tilba is a 1900’s Burwood mansion that is to be demolished to build a 3 storey apartment block with 24 units and 38 basement car parking spaces. Tibla is on a 1650-square-metre block, was restored by its previous owners and sold in November 2009 for a record $2.8 million.  But it’s also on Liverpool Road, which is a busy major arterial road.

And, that’s an area that is zoned for for medium density housing. 

Since Tilba was not on the council's heritage list, last minute intervention by the Planning Minister delayed things.  But when the Heritage Council ruled that the house house did not have state heritage significance and the development complied with all planning laws, it was approved by a majority vote at a council meeting.

Residents claim Tibla should have been protected for its historical value, but the most recent comprehensive heritage study undertaken by Burwood Council was in 1986 and Tilba was not included.  It’s been suggested Burwood Council, like many cash-strapped councils, had neglected their local heritage lists leaving thousands of dwellings unprotected.

But we can’t preserve every historic house and redevelop Sydney, we have to make sacrifices where the location and/or property does not warrant it and otherwise we need to create a new heritage with high quality development to replace high quality older buildings.  After all, its not just old buildings that have architectural and will have heritage value (think of the Opera House).

So, see you at the next historic house demolition party.

Francesco …