The revitalisation of Awaba House: Cafe, artist in residence, intimate function space? You decide.
It was destroyed by fire in August last year and now Lake Macquarie Council is asking for community feedback to see what should be the future uses of the iconic building.
Newcastle
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It was in August last year one of Lake Macquarie’s local treasures was destroyed by fire.
Booragul’s iconic Awaba House, a local heritage listed building, went up in flames.
The news spread quickly across social media as the whole community expressed their devastation.
Now more than six months on, still sitting vacant and charred on the waterfront, Lake Macquarie Council is asking what it should do with the historic building.
Among the proposed future uses to revitalise Awaba House are a cafe, artist in residence and an intimate function space.
The council’s manager of property and business development David Antcliff said it’s been working with the Awaba House revitalisation community reference group (CRG) to develop several options for the site.
“Awaba House has an intrinsic connection with the Lake Macquarie community so it’s important we get this right,” Mr Antcliff said.
“The CRG has agreed on a number of proposed uses and options for Awaba House that warrant further investigation, and we are ready to hear from the wider community what they think.
“This will help shed light on whether we’re on the right track.
“We want to ensure that any decision we make for the site considers the needs of current and future generations of Lake Macquarie.”
The building remains closed off to the public with hoardings in place to limit access.
Since the fire, the building has been assessed by structural engineers and in December last year, Council established the CRG to discuss and develop ideas on its future based on a range of expert advice and community opinion.
The group have been meeting monthly since January to develop a number of proposed uses and design ideas for the site.
The CRG will present a report from community feedback to councillors by June.
Mayor Kay Fraser said Awaba House held a special place in the hearts of many local people and is urging people to complete the online survey.
“Awaba House was a much-loved local venue for people to enjoy a coffee or a meal in a wonderful lakeside setting,” Cr Fraser said.
“Celebrating weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and other special occasions.”
Unfortunate for Awaba House it 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 had been operating as a cafe and restaurant.
Visit shape.lakemac.com.au/revitalising-awaba-house to complete the survey.