As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald (23 October, 2006), a house in Lurline Bay, Sydney, designed by Harry Seidler in 1963, is under threat of demolition. The listing agent says that the new owner will probably demolish the house, since it’s a modest place sited on a magnificent block of land. The Heritage Committee of the New South Wales Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects is up in arms.

Penelope Seidler has also commented on the issue, saying that it’s not one of Harry’s best and she’s more concerned about the last of his houses in Canberra—the Bowden House, at 11 Northcote Crescent, Deakin.

The Bowden House

It’s reported that this house, again a modest one on a large parcel of land, is likely to be demolished if and when it’s sold. The only other freestanding house in Canberra designed by Seidler, at 12 Yapunyah Street, O’Connor, was recently demolished. Penelope Seidler:

That really upsets me because it is a really good house, and original. But the land is very valuable.

On 23 October the Canberra Times reported further on the issue, noting the owner’s dismay at the prospect of his house value declining with a possible heritage listing.

When we sell or die, whoever looks to take over the block of land would expect, quite reasonably, to have a larger building, better able to cope with a family than this, if he is going to have to pay high rates.

Nominated, but not listed

The article’s author, John Thistleton, contacted a colleague and I beforehand. We made the point that the ACT RAIA Chapter Register of Significant Twentieth Century Architecture Committee considers this house to be one of the two most important post-war international style houses in Canberra and nominated it for heritage listing at least nine years ago. The ACT Heritage Council has still not considered the nomination—why not?

In response to the article, a Letter to the Editor of the Canberra Times from Penleigh Boyd appeared on 30 October 2006. He wrote:

It is indeed a bizarre situation when members of the public can effectively say ‘I love your house so much I don’t want you or anyone else to change it—and have that wish enshrined in law. I cannot think of any other socially acceptable behaviour like it.

Our letter to the Canberra Times

Our response to that letter was published on 2 November 2006, but a few key points were omitted. Here’s the letter in full:

Penleigh Boyd finds it bizarre that a member of the public can call for a significant ACT house to be heritage-listed (‘Heritage laws can penalise owners’, 30 October, p 10).

Protecting cultural heritage involves striking a balance between the individual’s right to do as they please with their own property and the community’s right to preserve and enjoy that heritage.

Heritage listing is an important measure of a building’s significance. Some nine years after nomination of Harry Seidler’s Bowden House by an expert body—the ACT Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects—the ACT Heritage Council still has not considered it.

However, a building’s heritage listing is no guarantee that it will be preserved. The late twentieth century structuralist Guardian House in Woden, a highly awarded building designed by Ian McKay for the NCDC in 1968, was listed on the ACT Interim Heritage Places Register but demolished in 2003. The functionalist style Whitley Houses in Griffith and Braddon, designed by Government architect Cuthbert Whitley in 1939, have recently been subjected to heavy development—yet they’re also listed on the register.

Boyd is therefore incorrect to suggest that heritage listing automatically protects a building from demolition, or denies the owner the right to alter it. He cites no proof for the claim that listing devalues a house. And he ignores the fact that many owners seek heritage protection for their houses and are active in preserving them.

Nevertheless, a balance plainly is not being achieved under the present system if owners are unhappy with potential restrictions, but buildings are still being pulled down.

Boyd is right to call for creative thinking, but misguided in suggesting that the ACT Heritage Council purchase all listed houses for renting out. Rather, it can look to the approach of the Historic Houses Trust of NSW with grants and incentives for heritage conservation and partnerships between government and the private sector.

With Calthorpes’ House and Manning Clark House as models, it could restore some key houses as cultural/research centres that increase the community’s appreciation of architecture, design and broader culture.

Then, mere members of the public may be encouraged to play a role in conserving their cultural heritage.