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Moonee Valley Heritage Action group fight plans to demolish century-old home

Neighbours are fighting to save a 134-year-old house in Ascot Vale from being demolished and replaced with townhouses, after the council stripped the street of heritage protections a decade ago.

The 134-year-old house at 81 Charles St, Ascot Vale could be demolished and replaced with townhouses.
The 134-year-old house at 81 Charles St, Ascot Vale could be demolished and replaced with townhouses.

A 134-year-old Victorian weatherboard home could be demolished because heritage protections were removed from it nearly a decade ago.

The house in Charles St, Ascot Vale was built in 1885 and was under a heritage overlay until 2010, when an assessor deemed the street unworthy of precinct-based protection.

Members of the Moonee Valley Heritage Action group fear the historic features of the property – which was bought by a developer for almost $1.8 million in 2017 — could be lost if a new heritage overlay is not imposed.

Dorothy Howes, John Barton, Adam Ford, Maree Shady, Bernadette Phillips and Maree Barton are staunch objectors to demolition plans for the house in Charles St.
Dorothy Howes, John Barton, Adam Ford, Maree Shady, Bernadette Phillips and Maree Barton are staunch objectors to demolition plans for the house in Charles St.

Action group president Adam Ford said the council had received almost 80 objections to the developer’s planning proposal to demolish the house and build three townhouses.

“This is exactly the type of highly valuable heritage property that the community expects our councils to protect,” Mr Ford said.

“The building is a triple-fronted weatherboard with an impressive wraparound front veranda featuring original Victorian lattice and large front bay window, and it is remarkably well-preserved for a building of this period.”

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Mr Ford said a property at 65 Charles St was younger, smaller, and “clearly less significant” than 81 Charles St, but was awaiting approval by the Planning Minister for a heritage overlay.

“All we ask for is some consistency and certainty in the way heritage rules are actually being applied in Moonee Valley,” he said.

While 65 Charles St was identified in the council’s latest heriatge gap study as having “potential heritage significance”, 81 Charles St was not.

“The scoping that is being done for these studies has proven to be woefully inadequate - the gap studies are leaving gaps left right and centre,” Mr Ford said.

Design of the townhouses planned to replace the 134-year-old house at 81 Charles St.
Design of the townhouses planned to replace the 134-year-old house at 81 Charles St.

Councillor Nicole Marshall will move a motion at Tuesday night’s council meeting to have interim heritage protections placed on the house, but Mr Ford and others in the heritage action group fear the house could be damaged before the overlay is enforced.

A similar situation played out in February when an 81-year-old home, which was flagged as having significant historical value, was given the green light to be demolished after the owners modified it before heritage protections could be enforced.

While the council wanted to enforce protections on that house, interim protections from the Planning Minister took too long to come into effect, and the owners were able to modify the house so that it no longer qualified for permanent heritage protections.

Earlier this year, councillors adopted the Moonee Valley 2017 Heritage Study and the council has requested the Planning Minister apply interim heritage overlays as well as permanent controls over properties identified in the study.

rachel.clayton@news.com.au

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Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/north-west/moonee-valley-heritage-action-group-fight-plans-to-demolish-centuryold-home/news-story/a0dc05dbfa4a2649b4afb5d910185893