Developer Cleighton Clark to demolish 86-year-old home Ascot after court win
A developer has won his court battle against Brisbane City Council to demolish his family's $8 million mansion in one of the city’s most affluent suburbs.
A millionaire developer has won a legal stoush with council to swing a wrecking ball at his $8m “magnificent estate” which his family has called home for more than 30 years.
Cleighton Clark, founder of Habitat Development Group (Habitat), which builds apartments on the Sunshine Coast, won his fight against Brisbane City Council in the Planning and Environment Court on Tuesday.
Planning and Environment Court Judge Nicole Kefford ruled that the council’s refusal to allow the demolition will be set aside and replaced with a decision to approve the development application subject to conditions.
Mr Clark took his case to court after the council’s April 30 decision to knock back his application to knock down the 86-year-old mansion called ‘Lorne’ on Anthony St in Ascot.
The original house was designed by architect Roy Ashley Shaw in 1936 and built by Blair Cunningham, and was home to the Campbell family from 1939, documents filed with council state.
“I am satisfied that the subject building … if demolished, will not result in the loss of traditional building character,” Judge Kefford ruled.
The court heard expert evidence from heritage architect Luke Pendergast, hired by Mr Clark.
Judge Kefford stated that she accepted Mr Pendergast’s evidence that alterations made to the home in around 1993 substantially changed the appearance of the Anthony St home “in a way that is detrimental to its appearance as a building with traditional building character”.
Mr Pendergast told the court that home, built pre-1946, had been substantially altered by in 1993 with work to the street-facing elevation.
The original home was described as being in the “interwar stripped classical” style, which was popular in Australia between the 1910s and 1940s.
It was a modernised and simplified interpretation of classical architecture, influenced by art deco, modernism, and beaux-arts principles, Mr Pendergast told the court.
Mr Clark is the founder of Habitat which is regularly ranked in Top 10 builders of apartments in the country by the Housing Industry Association, its website states.
Mr Clark’s parents David and Helen bought the five-bedroom home in December 1992, council documents state.
While Mr Clark is the only applicant in the legal case, property records state that the home is owned jointly by Mr Clark with his brother Steele and Melita Hollands.
It was listed for sale in October last year for $7.65m and described as “the embodiment of Ascot living”.
The house sits within a traditional building character overlay and is on land at 89A, 91, 93 and 95 Anthony St.
The case returns to court on Thursday, December 4, for review to decide the conditions.
Originally published as Developer Cleighton Clark to demolish 86-year-old home Ascot after court win
