{"id":6211,"date":"2016-10-25T10:32:40","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T23:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/?p=6211"},"modified":"2022-08-04T00:25:50","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T00:25:50","slug":"corkman-illegal-demolition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/2016\/10\/25\/corkman-illegal-demolition\/","title":{"rendered":"The Corkman Hotel and the Problem of Illegal Demolition of Historic Buildings"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Corkman Irish Pub at 160 Leicester St, Carlton in Melbourne as it appears on the hotel’s website<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last week Melbourne residents were appalled at the news that an historic pub in inner-suburban Carlton had been illegally demolished<\/a>. The Corkman Irish Pub was opened\u00a0in 1857 as the Carlton Inn <\/a>and was one of the few surviving buildings of that era. It was demolished a week after a fire damaged it.\u00a0The Guardian<\/em> reports<\/a> that the developer claimed that damage from the fire made the building unsafe but a Melbourne Council building surveyor and other experts had inspected the building and found that the damage had not caused significant structural damage.<\/p>\n

Sadly, this is not the first time that a historically valuable building has been illegally demolished in Melbourne. When I heard the news I was immediately reminded of the illegally demolished Toorak church<\/a>\u00a0that we passed by each day on the way home from work in the late 1980s. It stood half destroyed for years.<\/p>\n

\"Toorak<\/a>
Toorak Wesleyan Church on the corner of Toorak and Williams roads, was illegally demolished in the 1980s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The problem is not confined to Victoria. Just this month in Brisbane two\u00a0historically significant\u00a0houses were demolished after<\/em> a demolition application had been refused<\/a>. Last year the New South Wales Land and Environment Court fined\u00a0a\u00a0developer for illegally destroying the facades of a row of shop fronts on Parramatta Road in Sydney<\/a>. (You can read the\u00a0full judgement from the New South Wales Land and Environment Court<\/a>.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
This photo from the Corkman Irish Pub website shows one of many groups who used the hotel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is not simply an issue about a collection of bricks and mortar. As the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) has observed<\/a>, there is more to a building than its physical construction. The National Trust states\u00a0that\u00a0Illegal demolition of buildings is also an attack on a community. The interior and exterior of buildings form part of a community\u2019s fabric. In the case of the Corkman Irish Pub, those groups such as\u00a0the law students at Melbourne University<\/a>, used it as a social space for many years. Communities are formed and thrive in places. The fa\u00e7ade of a building can be an important spot in the visual landscape marking a meeting place, a form of reference to other places, a visual link between a community\u2019s past, present and future. A building can be an important visual expression of culture.<\/p>\n

A building is not the owner\u2019s plaything. On those occasions I have owned a house I have known that my ownership of it is temporary. Even if I own it for the rest of my life, the house is quite likely to survive my death and become an important place in the lives of other people. I am fortunate to have possession of it, but that possession is temporary and while I enjoy the benefits of ownership, this necessarily comes with obligations. To my mind there is a lot of sense in the attitude of Australia’s Aboriginal peoples towards traditional ownership of land.<\/p>\n

An owner of a building is a custodian of that building. The owner has temporary command of the structure\u00a0and looks after it for themselves and the community, but the owner also has responsibility to\u00a0future owners and communities. As recompense for taking on that responsibility building owners gain many benefits. Our society recognises the communal nature of buildings through the laws that govern the use and care of buildings.<\/p>\n

Like the buildings they protect, these laws are also a link between past, present and future. The current state of our property laws reflect the decisions of past generations. Our living generation continues to work on these laws to reflect our current values, but given the fundamental place of precedent in our legal system, current laws are often a melding of past and present.<\/p>\n

Illegal demolition of buildings is also an affront to\u00a0a community because it shows contempt for the laws that community has developed. It shows that those transgressors only think of compliance to our society\u2019s laws in terms of how these rules will affect their profits,. Fines are just a cost of doing business, but they are worth it because in our over-heated property market, transgressors have calculated that they can easily recoup that cost.<\/p>\n

The illegal demolition of buildings is a clash of cultures between an individualistic mindset\u00a0and a recognition that people wherever they live, are social beings who need to be considerate of each other in whatever action they do.<\/p>\n

Where to from here? The Planing Minister for Victoria is considering new penalties for this kind of destruction and the CEO of the National Trust of Victoria has called for a discussion about \u00a0penalties<\/a> for illegal demolition. Fines don\u2019t bring back buildings, and it is doubtful whether they are a good deterrent for developers relentlessly pursuing profits. A change.org petition started by Melbourne University Law Students<\/a> is calling for the rebuilding of the pub and a public inquiry into its demolition. The petition won\u2019t bring back the original building as it was but it might be a sufficient deterrent. \u00a0If miscreants are forced to rebuild the buildings they illegally destroy and are denied permission to do\u00a0any redevelopment on the site, then others may refrain from doing this because the potential penalties are too large a burden.<\/p>\n

Another innovation which was used in the case of the buildings illegally demolished on Parramatta Road in Sydney was to prosecute the developer personally<\/a> instead of merely prosecuting his company. A fine hurts more if you cannot rely on the limited liability of your company. The local council also withdrew permission for the developer to build on the site. If they have not already done so, councils could explicitly state that developers will have development applications refused if they have illegally demolished a building.<\/p>\n

The communal outcry at the destruction of the Corkman Irish Pub demonstrates that Melbourne residents value their history and cultural heritage. Last week was History Week in Victoria with a wealth of great events. It is sad that in Melbourne last week it was this illegal destruction of an old\u00a0building which gained the most news coverage about history.<\/p>\n

Adendum<\/h3>\n

The illegal demolition of the Corkman Irish Hotel continues to unfold:<\/p>\n