‘I’m grieving this loss’: Community devastated by fire at iconic Awaba House
The Lake Macquarie community are in shock after the iconic local heritage listed Awaba House at Booragul was completely destroyed by fire. Council will assess the damage to see if rehabilitation can be done.
Newcastle
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It is a sad day for the Lake Macquarie community with a local treasure destroyed by fire.
Booragul’s Awaba house, a local heritage listed building, which was built in 1927, went up in flames on Tuesday evening, with fire crews unable to match the intensity of the blaze.
The news which spread quickly across social media has devastated the whole community, as many reminisce about events and weddings they enjoyed at Awaba House.
Michaelle Shetab, who runs the I Love Lake Macquarie Facebook page, said she was grieving the loss of such a historic, local heritage building.
“All the history behind it, there’s a magnificent view from the house, the best real estate in Lake Macquarie,” Ms Shetab said.
“Everyone is in such a shock. I’ve been to the restaurant, art gallery and cafe so many times.
“I think it is a massive loss to the community.”
Lake Macquarie City Council property and business development manager David Antcliff said it was a sad day, but the outpouring of support by the community and local business had been overwhelming.
“It’s a testament to the community’s love of the historic facility and another example of how the people of Lake Macquarie come together in times of need,” he said.
Once the building has been made safe, council can start assessment on the damage to see what can be done.
“The damage is quite extensive, we’ll be heading in there with our engineers to work out what the next step is,” Mr Antcliff said.
“We’ll be working out the steps and what the site might look like in terms of the future. We haven’t given up on Awaba house.”
The iconic Awaba House has had a tumultuous past. It burned down during 1886 and the following year, a new house was erected on the site, but was demolished in 1927.
The council acquired the property in November 1995 as a temporary home for the art gallery, until 2000 when a decision was made to construct the new state-of-the-art facility.
More recently, Awaba House has been operating as a cafe and restaurant.
Mr Antcliff said council was doing its best to support operators and employees following the fire.
“Try and help any events that are coming up and also help out the operators with alternate venues as best we can,” he said.
“You can’t replace the Awaba house overnight unfortunately so there will be some disappointed people.
“It’s early days and we don’t know how long it will take to possibly rebuild, it’s difficult to tell, so we’ll get in there and start and will do it as quickly as possible.”
The art gallery next door was not affected by the fire and ongoing refurbishment works will continue for the gallery to be open at the back end of the year.
Investigations into the cause of the blaze are continuing.
Community members are being asked to stay away from the building due to safety concerns.
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