Fears two historic Norwood homes could be demolished and redeveloped

Residents in Adelaide’s east are demanding more protection for historic buildings, with revelations two just-sold homes faced demolition.

The planned demolition of a historic home – and aborted demolition of another – in Adelaide’s east has led to calls for stronger protection of 19th century buildings in a sought-after suburb.

The pair of Victorian-era buildings on William St, Norwood, were sold for a combined $2.36m in January and May this year, with redevelopment plans lodged in May and June respectively.

One couple this week withdrew the redevelopment plans and are investigating options for the 119-year-old property. The side-by-side properties have been subject of a campaign against their demolition.

The properties are in a character zone, which affords no protection to existing homes from demolition unless they have a local or state heritage listing.

The owners of this house are investigating options to retain and renovate the house. Parking is an issue as the back of the block was earlier subdivided by previous owners. Picture: Renato Castello

Norwood resident Brigitte Squire spearheaded a leaflet drop of 1500 residents this month alerting them to the potential loss of the side-by-side properties.

She said the owners were within their legal rights to knock over the houses but was worried about the loss of properties in the suburb and apparent lack of protection for older buildings.

“There is a lot of anger in the Norwood area about the accelerating rate of development,” said Ms Squire, who has lived in Norwood for more than 20 years.

“It is stunning that an area with such a distinctive streetscape and history as William St has not been granted greater protection.

“Without area-wide protection, the fate of the homes is in the hands of individual owners. The demolition of a single historical home has a ripple effect: It results in a ‘gap-toothed smile’, which … destroys the character of the street and makes further demolition more likely.

“This is occurring in heritage areas throughout Adelaide – residents are witnessing the historic character of their suburb disappear.”

Neither property has been recommended for local or state heritage listing, Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Council says.

Norwood ward councillor Sue Whitington said the council had little power to protect buildings because any listing must be approved by the state government.

Norwood residents Rowena Dunk, Brigitte Squire, Bridie Squire, Sue Whittington and Fay Patterson outside one of the homes. Picture: Renato Castello

Under new planning rules introduced in March, approval is not needed to demolish houses.

The owner of the withdrawn application said they intended to retain the home.

He said councils and governments should do “everything in their power to protect” where is feasible.

“The rear land was sold by the previous owners, which meant the provision to park vehicles was lost as the driveway access on the front parcel of the land was too tight with the home positioned in the centre of the block,” said the owner, whom The Advertiser has chosen not to identify.

“We secured the home and began to work on solutions on retaining the original home, working on the driveway issue, knowing that if a feasible solution couldn’t be reached for offsite parking, we at least had an option to build a new home in a desirable location.”

The Advertiser has attempted to contact owners of the neighbouring house.

A council spokeswoman said the council had worked “vigorously to ensure heritage homes are protected”.

“This has resulted in the council successfully applying to the state government to have 25 historic areas officially protected in our city – including six zones in Norwood,” she said.

“However, the council’s endeavours to have individual buildings in William St and the immediate surrounding area protected with area-wide demolition controls have been unsuccessful.”