The Gatwick’s secret past The Block is ignoring

AS THE Block’s contestants ran into the crumbling rooms of the show’s mega-project, there was a problem everyone ignored.

BEFORE a team of Blockheads rolled into St Kilda’s The Gatwick to chuck up a couple of feature walls and install too many bronze fixtures, the dilapidated building lived a life so loud and messy it’s impossible to ignore.

But somehow, The Block found a way.

On Sunday night’s premiere, viewers were taken inside the historic hotel and boarding house, which had provided discount accommodation to the less fortunate of society since the 1950s. Residents included addicts, prison parolees and those simply down on their luck. Murders and assaults in the building made headlines over the decades.

The history of “The Gatty” can’t be escaped. But it has been strangely ignored on The Block — the gritty past swept under a stylish jute rug, probably from Freedom.

Soon, the 66 rooms that provided shelter to some of Melbourne’s poorest people will be transformed into three luxury apartments and two penthouses worth millions. Its past glossed over with marble and glass and polished concrete. The thirst for millions on the looming auction day a stark contrast to the worries of the people who once drifted through the halls.

Photos surfaced this week of a surprise message left behind by the former owners, twin sisters Yvette Kelly and Rose Banks, whose mother Vittoria Carbone bought the hotel in the 1950s to help the disadvantaged.

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After reluctantly selling the property to Nine for $10 million last year, the sisters closed the doors of The Gatwick in July. They left their mark on the building to send a loud and clear message aimed at producers.

On the timber and glass front doors, the sisters stuck a large a photo of themselves flipping the middle finger.

Message received.

Large posters written by the sisters were taken down before filming began.

Articulating their sorrow, the pair printed a long tribute to The Gatwick on large posters and plastered them along the building’s crumbling facade.

“Unfortunately, not everyone felt the way we did, or understood how important it was for people to have somewhere they could go. A room to sleep in, somewhere they could be themselves,” one poster read.

“There will never be another Gatwick. God bless all those who lived here. Rest in Peace ‘Gatty’,” read the large black print on another poster.

‘We never judged …’ the lengthy message posted by the sisters.

‘Unfortunately not everyone felt the way we did’ … the message appears to be directed at the new owners.

By the time camera crews and contestants rolled up to the property to begin filming the series, the tribute — and finger-flipping farewell — had been removed. And in Sunday’s premiere, the history of the soon-to-be luxury apartments was skimmed over.

“This grand old dame was built in 1937 and by gosh she’s certainly seen her fair share of wear and tear,” a comical old-timey voiceover recounted succinctly in the opening scenes of the series.

When quizzed about the lack of acknowledgement of the building’s history, a spokeswoman for Nine said: “The history of the building, both in terms of its original use as a glamourous tourist destination and it’s more recent fall from grace was dealt with extensively in the lead up to the broadcast in the promotional campaign for the show.”

During the premiere episode five couples ran up the marble steps, through the old double timber doors and whirled through the dorm rooms once occupied by the residents who sought refuge there. Old mattresses, sheets and pillows remained alongside mismatched possessions left behind by people who could barely afford to call the building home.

Contestants were not impressed by what they found.

“It smells like cat piss,” contestant Sara said, looking around the bedroom, which still had someone’s personal photos stuck to the wall. “Yeah, it’s pretty bad,” her husband Hayden noted.

A final glimpse before The Block teams turn it into million-dollar apartments.

Sara’s not impressed with what remains in The Gatwick.

Sheets and bedding left behind by former residents of the rooms.

“I don’t want to touch it that much. You know I’m a germaphobe,” Barossa Valley contestant Kerrie insisted when faced with a chest of drawers and its contents.

“I just feel like I’m tip toeing through everything … like, (I) don’t want to touch anything,” Melbourne friends Bianca and Carla said.

The simple rooms once occupied by the downtrodden for decades.

The contestants’ disgust didn’t sit well with viewers, with many expressing concern about the residents who had been moved on.

#9theblock sounds great tonight. Let's all go into a building where people down on their luck lived until recently and make fun of how shit it is

— Stavros Nikopoulos (@WestSydneySport) August 5, 2018

Hard to watch #9theblock this year knowing the true history of The Gatwick. Let’s not forget the residents haven’t disappeared, they’ve just been moved on. I hope @TheBlock looks to donate to important causes this year in recognition of this #outofsightoutofmind #gentrification

— Angela (@Shinzlet) August 5, 2018

When my family first came to Australia, we lived in #TheGatwick - driven by economics not choice. Now I get to watch wannabe celebrities make the place inhabitable for inside-traders, stand-up comics & others with deep enough pockets to displace the undesirables #9theblock

— Sunil Kemppi (@SunilKemppi) August 5, 2018

I proudly live in St Kilda and chose to live here knowing who my community was going to be. I am incredibly concerned for the vulnerable people who have been displaced by #9TheBlock. Rising property prices are not enough to appease my moral indignation 😡https://t.co/jFEx7xGxzz

— Chantel (@chantel_fathers) August 5, 2018

Yvette Kelly and Rose Banks first put The Gatwick on the market in 2015, with an asking price of $15 million. The sisters told ABC News last year they closed down due to pressure from police and politicians.

“[We’re] extremely let down by the politicians,” Ms Banks said.

They described the sale to the makers of The Block as “gut-wrenching”.

A spokeswoman for Nine said a condition of the sale of the building was that “long term residents of the hotel were successfully re-housed before any purchase of the building could proceed”.

“It is universally agreed by all stakeholders in this process, including state and local governments and not-for-profit organisations that were involved that those residents that were re-housed are now living in far better accommodation than The Gatwick could ever provide for them,” the spokeswoman said.

@hellojamesweir