News & Discussion: Heritage Buildings

[stumpjumper]

Quite often the reason for a building being empty is the lack of ‘fire rating’, eg timber stairs and floors, lack of isolated fire escapes etc.

It can be illegal to occupy upper floor spaces in these buildings.

There are exceptions, some for no apparent reason. The upper floors of Harris Scarfe’s building with its central timber stairs and timber floors is technically not occupiable.

Gawler Chambers would make fantastic apartments. I’ve always thought so too. Thhe ‘squatter’ with the green sofa is a dentist, by the way.

Gawler Chambers is owned by the Roche family (Adelaide Development Company, ex Lord Mayor John Roche and Rann government buddy Fiona Roche). ADC is very wealthy and can afford to hang on to the building empty for years.

[monotonehell]

Regarding Gawler Chambers, I forgot to add a few days ago that the building is nationally heritage listed as it's a very important building in terms of South Australian settlement. It was commissioned and built by the South Australia Company (SAC) in the early 1900s. For those who don't know, The South Australia Company was to SA as the East India Company was to India. It basically oversaw the initial development of the state's colonisation, industry and so on until 1949 when it was wound up.

Thanks Stumpy -- I wondered who owned it. Maybe I'll buy it from them... I'll offer ten bucks.

[stumpjumper]

You'd have more chance of getting Ms Roche to...

but I digress. You're right about the history of the building. It was for 'manufacturers' representatives' to present samples of their wares and was a very busy place.

As for the Reserve Bank building, it is a treat for building lovers. It was built for the Commonwealth in the 1960's, almost regardless of cost and intended to last for at least 50 years with the Commonwealth as the primary tenant. As someone here said, the good old days.

The building is a fcuking Rolls Royce, to put it mildly. There is refrigerated filtered drinking water piped throughout the building with taps inset in the walls of the lift lobbies on every floor. The brick ties in the building are bronze, thank you very much. The manager's floor is not open plan like the others but has double brick walls for aural security! The full height doors on that floor are blackwood, probably veneer. but they feel solid.

The buyer has one of the best constructed buildings in Adelaide.

[Omicron]

You have only made me want to go inside the Reserve Bank building even more, Mr. Jumper! A marvellous building.

[duke149]

I often spend my lunches walking around the city. I make a point of taking back streets that I have never been down. There are so many small buildings and patches of land that are just not used.
I have always wondered who owned them and why no one ever did anything with them. At one stage I was thinking about finding out who you would contact to see who owns them to buy one. Convert it into a house or something. But I figured it would end up costing too much so I never did it.

[stumpjumper]

Omicron, just put on your overalls and go for a walk. People will think you're a mere workman and will ignore you.

Or, if you don't own such peasant garb, loosen your tie, grab a roll of drawings and stride around the building looking hassled. People will think you have a problem to solve and will deliberately ignore you to avoid becoming part of the solution.

However you do it, a good look at the Reserve Bank building is worth it. Every component in the building is the very best quality that could be specified at the time.

[Omicron]

Omicron, just put on your overalls and go for a walk. People will think you're a mere workman and will ignore you.

Or, if you don't own such peasant garb, loosen your tie, grab a roll of drawings and stride around the building looking hassled. People will think you have a problem to solve and will deliberately ignore you to avoid becoming part of the solution.

However you do it, a good look at the Reserve Bank building is worth it. Every component in the building is the very best quality that could be specified at the time.

What frightens me is the extent to which such fixtures and fittings are being ruined for the sake of modernity. How brutal are these renovations being?

[citybangbang]

Just did a search for a pic of the reserve bank building and see that it is up for lease...not sure how many floors though.
http://www.realcommercial.com.au/commer ... te/5356821

[stumpjumper]

The recent heating to the point of combustion of the heritage listed stone building at 42 Fourth Ave at Klemzig is the latest in a number of incidents where developments have been freed up by the unfortunate burning and subsequent delisting of a heritage building.

The same thing happened to the Metropolitan Abattoirs Administration Building in 2007 and the Pooraka Stock Sales Ring in 2006.

[Brando]

You're being quite clumsy the past few post, firstly putting up personal details of a certain participant in your Newport Quays post and now you're insinuating circumstances regarding this developer. With or without evidence, these forums are not the appropriate avenue to air your frustration.

Please have some respect for the board and Howie. Such post can be dangerous and detrimental.

[jk1237]

if you want a prime example, theres an old dilapidated shop on Payneham Rd St Peters/College Park, opp the Maid n Magpie. It was already falling apart, and they tried their very best (even using some sort of explosives), and all it did was blow out part of the wall on one side and part of the roof was burnt. While structurally unsafe now, they did build things to last in the olden days. Its quite funny really. Theres been a fence around it for well over a year now

[Howie]

Can we replace the word ars*n with something else that won't get us into trouble. Thanks in advance.

[stumpjumper]

I hope the above alterations reduce the temperature a bit.

Brando, For some months I've been cursed with an internet access setup which has been giving me a selection of dodgy IP's which haven't made it through Howie's very efficient firewall. You get what you pay for is all I can say. So yes, I'm a bit rusty, and my recent posts have perhaps lacked any rapier-like finesse they may have previously had.

Btw, as mentioned, the details you refer to were on the public website involved. I am not in the business of harrowing individuals, just the questioning of process.

The explosion and subsequent 'heating' of the national estate listed Bell's Plumber shop at Payneham Road is accepted to have been a 'vapour explosion'.

Here is some information:

The owner of Bell’s plumbing shop (built 1883) at 15 Payneham Rd, the adjacent vacant land to its east and the ‘Duke of Leinster Building’ to the east of the vacant land is Hamilton Hill Pty Ltd which has applied to Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Council to demolish the remains of the plumbing shop.

Up to $300,000 damage (NP&SP Council) was caused to the shop when a ‘vapour explosion’ set fire to it in May last year.

The explosion left a large hole in the building’s side wall, which has not been repaired. There are no proposals lodged with the council to develop the site if the building is demolished.

Community consultation on the demolition application finished in May 2009, with four people in favour and two against. The council’s urban planning general manager Carlos Buzzetti said the application would appear before the Development Assessment Panel in June or July.
NP&SP council said in June last year that preliminary investigations showed the building could be repaired.

Before the explosion, the council had been working with Heritage SA to get conservation work carried out at the dilapidated shop.

[monotonehell]

I hope the above alterations reduce the temperature a bit.

OH the puns -- they burn!

Oh no I made another one!

[fabricator]

Lets not forget the usual method, simply leave the building as is. In time something bad will happen when the squatters and vandals set to work.

The government prefer to simply leave an old building so the termites and pigeons make it 'unsafe'.