A seven-storey concrete carpark seen as an eyesore by locals has been heritage listed by a council with an extraordinary description of its architectural value.
The former hospital carpark, in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton, is a 1970s brutalist design, which favours bare building materials over decorative looks.
Melbourne council described it as ‘striking, robust and bold, with a powerful presence … a monumental building which is both strong and simple in its form and expression’.
But many locals see it very differently, with one submission to the council comparing giving it a heritage listing to ‘protecting a cigarette factory’.
Despite the objections, the council voted unanimously to heritage list the building on the corner of Grattan and Cardigan streets for its ‘local aesthetic significance’.
A seven-storey concrete carpark (pictured) seen as an eyesore by locals has been heritage listed by a council with an extraordinary description of its architectural value
Many locals protested, with one submission to the council comparing giving it a heritage listing to ‘protecting a cigarette factory’
Councillors did admit, though, that its sloping floors and low ceilings made it difficult to adapt for other uses, so it could still be demolished.
‘The heritage overlay does not necessarily mean a prohibition on demolition,’ Councillor Jamal Hakim said at the meeting, The Age reported.
‘Including the carpark in the planning scheme amendment … does not preclude development on the site in the future that can be considered.’
Many residents made submissions to the council opposing the carpark’s inclusion in the Carlton Heritage Review, with one calling for the site to be used for housing.
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One local, in a submission to Melbourne council, called for the carpark site (pictured) to be used for housing
Katie Roberts-Hull said locals were not interested in protecting the carpark and the heritage listing was driven by the private consultants hired to conduct the review.
‘This is symbolic of how heritage has gone too far,’ Ms Roberts-Hull said in her submission to the council.
‘Protecting a carpark is like protecting a cigarette factory. It creates more pollution in the area, obviously more traffic and is a symbol of car dependency in a suburb where you don’t really need a car at all.’
She said her daughter’s daycare was across the road from the carpark on the former site of the demolished Royal Women’s Hospital, which the carpark had served.
‘I’m grateful the hospital did not have any heritage protection and was allowed to be replaced by a development that has enhanced our community,’ she said.
‘The potential benefit of protecting the carpark is for a small number of architecture enthusiasts, but this is outweighed by the harm caused to the community.’
Councillors admitted that the carpark’s (pictured) sloping floors and low ceilings made it difficult to adapt for other uses, so it could still be demolished
Melbourne’s acting lord mayor Nicholas Reece said the heritage listing was based on expert opinion and the carpark had value as an example of the brutalist building era.
But even that may not be enough to save it in the long term.
‘Just because a building receives heritage listing does not mean it cannot be redeveloped or even demolished,’ he said.
‘It does mean that any alterations to the building will be held to a higher standard, but we have seen many examples of heritage buildings across the city which have been significantly redeveloped notwithstanding their heritage status.’
