Marion St Parramatta: Heritage home goes for 80m unit block
A western Sydney council grappling with its city’s rich history and status as a development hotspot has given the green light to demolish a 133-year-old house for a towering unit block.
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Parramatta Council has given the green light for a unit block that could soar up to 30 storeys, signalling the demolition of a 133-year-old heritage-listed house for the 167-unit complex.
The planning proposal for 33-43 Marion St, Parramatta, has secured approval from the council, a move that will see it advance to the Planning Department for ultimate determination.
Lord Mayor Bob Dwyer’s casting vote in August approved the complex.
The Victorian-era heritage home at 33 Marion St was on the chopping block since April 2018 when the Parramatta Local Planning Panel granted development consent for its demolition.
The house, on the border of Harris Park and constructed during the first development phase in the Parramatta area, drew strong debate over clearing more of Parramatta’s rich heritage in favour of the 80m tower.
“It’s ridiculous that we keep knocking down our heritage for the sake of development,’’ Labor councillor Patricia Prociv said.
“It was built before the World War. We are a developer’s dream as a council. You want to knock down a few little houses? Go for it. We don’t value our heritage. Parramatta was built on its heritage. We’re the second settlement in Australia. Our heritage is domestic but all we’re going to be left with are these tall glass buildings. They’re not heritage. Our heritage lies in our little buildings.”
Liberal Martin Zaiter blasted councillors who opposed the development and said they were impeding Parramatta’s growth as a second city.
“We will never achieve that goal. We’ll never realise our future and our dream if we are continuing to change the goalposts.
“What investor would want to come and put their money into Parramatta when we are always flipping and flopping and changing the goalposts?
“This is something that entirely frustrates me and the thing that really frustrates me is that we have individuals and enterprises that come in good faith to invest in our great city to make our city even better and only to get to the final step to be told ‘oh no, we want to defer it because of XYZ?”
Labor’s Donna Davis wanted the matter deferred but the suggestion was defeated.