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5 Comments

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1. I hope the City will not allow this small piece of our heritage to be demolished, let alone approve a completely out-of-place 5 storey block of flats and shops - the greedy developer may refer to them as "dwellings" but they are just flats.
   While the existing shop is not a grand Victorian building, it is part of our history and should be retained.

2. I was pretty alarmed to see a proposal for a 5 storey building on King Street but after looking at the plans this doesn't look too bad. The existing building has nothing going for it and the proposed new development isn't higher than the existing buildings either side.

   I support this development application.

3. It was inevitable that this building would be targeted for demolition after being severely tampered with in recent years. It should already have a heritage order on it. Behind the tacked-on cladding is a little single-storey timber shop, probably pre-dating the grand Victorian shops of King Street. There would be few examples left - if any - of such humble timber shops in Sydney. How lucky we are to have one right in the middle of Newtown. It would be preferable for the building to be restored to its former appearance as it has only been seriously 'modernized' in recent years (and by 'modernized' I mean given its bland appearance) . If people think the existing building 'has nothing going for it', it is because they don't know what is behind that cladding and glass. Demolish it and there goes another part of Newtown's character in the name of homogenisation. I do not support this development application.

4. Newtown is an inner city precinct and just as they would have done back in 1900, this developer wants to bring this property up to fuller utilisation to match the others in the area. Currently almost half the land of this site is an underutilised yard, in Sydney's longest shopping street. Sydney needs more accommodation of all types, done in as compassionate was as possible, and this proposal does that.

   Because there was once a little shack doesn't mean the best solution is to return the little shack to the very busy and very expensive high street. By that logic we should return the land to underutilised peach farms because before the buildings, that's what we had here. Sydney needs more residences, and some residences are flats and some are houses (I'm not sure what other people think is wrong with flats), some people live in flats too.

   Having looked at the plans, which I hope everyone does before commenting, and noticing the developers and architects both respect the site and are bringing something attractive to the area, like the addition behind the old post office is attractive and respectful, I support the addition of more homes to the area.

5. I have read other's comments and, although I understand the desire of developers to maximize return on an investment, this should not be the only consideration. Urban character, rather than homogenisation and blandness, should be considerations in a precinct as important at Newtown. The development proposal as it stands makes no reference at all to the charming shop (currently disguised by surface renovations) that occupies the site. I maintain there is a case for restoring the original appearance and function of the single-storey shop and utilizing the remainder of the site for development. As others have noted, this is how the Post Office site has been developed and, although humble in comparison, the relict shop at 228 King Street deserves similar treatment, not because it is a grand edifice but because its survival in its almost original form (until a few years ago), and its contribution to the distinctive Newtown streetscape, should be acknowledged. The proposed development, while attractive in appearance, could be anywhere. It is an echo of the vandalising efforts of developers in previous decades who demolished facades and whole buildings in King Street before the value of this unique commercial streetscape was recognised.

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