Historic North Plympton home knocked over to make way for subdivision

An 1860s home in North Plympton that escaped heritage protection has been destroyed for development — as the local council admits it doesn’t know why the building missed heritage listing.

From this ... to this. An 1860s house on Mooringe Ave, North Plympton, has been destroyed.

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An Adelaide council has admitted it doesn’t know why an 1860s home built by a pioneering family wasn’t heritage listed, as bulldozers knocked the stately house over.

It comes as the developer that bought the once-imposing North Plympton property, known as Moorfield, hit an opponent of the demolition with a legal letter telling him to take down social media posts.

Razing of the Mooringe Ave house began last week and was mostly complete by Tuesday.

It left only a bay window as a reminder of the 170-year-old home that once occupied the land, set to be subdivided into six titles.

The only way to have stopped the demolition of the home — which once belonged to the Bagshaw family who were early South Australian settlers and prominent businessmen in the 19th century — would have been to give the home local heritage listing

But West Torrens Council has revealed it hasn’t listed any new properties since the 1990s.

A West Torrens spokeswoman told The Advertiser the council was “unsure” why Moorfield had not been given local heritage status.

“The most recent local heritage survey for West Torrens was conducted in the late 1990s and the consultants engaged to undertake the survey never identified this property for listing,” the spokeswoman said.

“There is nothing in our records to indicate why.”

She said anyone could have nominated the home to the council or Planning Minister for local heritage listing at any time.

However, gaining local heritage listing requires the council to amend its development plan, which involves public consultation and seeking approval from the Planning Minister.’

Meanwhile, architecture expert Sandy Wilkinson was sent a legal letter on behalf of developer GG Investments SA requesting he take down social media posts criticising the house’s demolition.

It also claimed he had trespassed on the property to take photos.

The letter said Mr Wilkinson’s social media posts and photographs had the potential to cause “significant loss and damage” to the developer, which “reserves its rights” to take action.

It is not possible to defame a company, such as GG Investments SA but the company could bring other civil actions.

Mr Wilkinson believed the developer wanted to silence him.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for bullying and intimidation tactics to be employed to shut up and shut down people like myself who are acting in the public interest out of genuine concern for the parlous state of inadequate heritage protection in Adelaide,” Mr Wilkinson said.

No application for a new development on the site has yet been lodged.

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