A large backlog of nominations to the ACT Heritage Register has been building up over the past decade. During that time the RAIA has nominated a number of important houses and buildings to the ACT Interim Heritage Places Register. Unfortunately, few of these have ended up as actual heritage listings.

Some good news though—the ACT Heritage Unit has begun to shift the backlog and a number of provisional nominations to the ACT Heritage Register have been made in recent months, along with some notable rejections (more about these below). Following a period for public comment, these provisional nominations will be put before the ACT Heritage Council, who will decide whether to register these places under the Heritage Act 2004.

The following houses have been provisionally nominated:

• 145 Mugga Way, Red Hill
• 24 Arthur Circle, Forrest
• 19 Downes Pl, Hughes
• 13 Furphy Pl, Garran
• 13 Canterbury Cres, Deakin
• 1 Astley Place, Garran
• 42, 44, 46 Vasey Cres, Campbell
• 4 Cobby St, Campbell
• 12 Marawa Pl, Aranda
• 16 Ryrie St, Campbell

These places have been rejected for listing, due to their not meeting the criteria for significance set out in the Heritage Act:

• 15 Furphy Place, Garran
• 24 Cobby Street, Campbell
• 51 Tasmania Circle, Forrest
• 51 Melbourne Avenue, Forrest
• 14 Jansz Crescent, Griffith

Two of these rejections are disturbing, with inappropriate and insensitive additions greatly reducing the significance of 15 Furphy Place and 24 Cobby Street.

Let’s look at 24 Cobby Street, Campbell, designed by Sir Roy Grounds in 1965. The house is a late example of a combination of two styles: the post-war international style and, to a lesser extent, the post-war Melbourne regional style. The house is one of a small number of detached houses that Grounds designed in Canberra and contained elements of his work that combine rational and economic planning with the use of natural materials and his interest in geometric forms, seen at its strongest in the Australian Academy of Science (1959) in Canberra.

The RAIA nominated this house to the ACT Interim Heritage Places Register approximately ten years ago, with a detailed citation researched and prepared by the RAIA ACT Chapter RSTCA Committee. Significant fabric was removed and extensive construction was allowed to occur to the front of the place, as well as in front of the existing building line—all contrary to existing heritage requirements at the time. The cultural and heritage significance of this place was allowed to be diminished through the planning process to the extent that the house is no longer considered worthy of heritage listing.

That’s incredibly disappointing.