A Victorian demolition group have pulled down a very old, very lovely, very heritage-protected pub without any permission whatsoever over the weekend, and HOOOOOO BOY is Melbourne pissed.
And rightly so – The Corkman Irish Pub, previously known as the Carlton Inn, stood at the corner of Leicester and Pelham streets in Carlton, opposite University Square gardens and Melbourne University‘s law school.
It was built in 1857, and a recent heritage assessment said it was actually one of Carlton‘s earliest buildings. The assessment described the venue as “of aesthetic significance as a good example of the Victorian period”.
Last week, the pub was partially burnt by fire. Over the weekend, residents of the area rang council hotlines to complain of illegal demolition noise coming from the pub on Saturday late in the evening.
Unfortunately, by the time council inspectors arrived, the building had already been mostly demolished. The council issues a ‘stop work’ order, but the demolition crew still returned on the Sunday to finish off the job.
There’d been no permit to destroy the building, and there is no existing permit to rebuild on the site.
A petition has now been started by Melbourne Uni law students, demanding the owners rebuild the pub. It’s already amassed over 1000 signatures, with the petition stating that last week’s fire was “suspicious”.
“Illegal demolitions of heritage buildings should not be tolerated by Melbourne City Council.A coalition of law students and concerned citizens is currently seeking an order that the developers should pay for the full restoration of the building, and that no further development of the site in violation of Council protections should be allowed to take place.We are also calling for a public inquiry into the demolition of this building for profit and the need for stronger protections of Melbourne landmarks.”
It would appear that the heritage listed pub on cnr Leicester and Pelham Sts in Carlton has been demolished without a permit. ?? pic.twitter.com/fS4da1Y1HI
— Rohan Leppert (@RohanLeppert) October 16, 2016
The Age states that calls to the mobile number associated with Shaq Demolition were met with refusals to speak about he building, and being hung up on.
Heritage consultant Rohan Storey called for “hefty fines” issued against the developers and property owners, that would be “of an amount that would make them think twice, and make it unprofitable”, and also called for an order to rebuild the pub.
Lord Mayor Robert Doyle has spoken out about the incident, saying:
“This is a very, very serious matter – that building was protected by a heritage overlay.”
Melbourne City Council is now investigating the incident, with a spokeswoman confirming that the council will “take appropriate enforcement action”.
While it’s currently unclear what consequences the owners of the company and Shaq Demolition will now face, serious planning breaches like this can attract fines of up to $200,000 and fines for illegal demolition can total up to $180,000.
We’ll update you on this story as more information arises.
You can view the petition here: change.org/p/city-of-melbourne-resurrect-the-corkman-pub
Source: The Age.
Photo: Jenny Zhou.
