Demolishing Lonsdale House is bringing Melbourne one step closer to being “just a bunch of glass boxes”, a protester told Architecture & Design.
Sean Fishlock was so “gutted” to hear of the art deco building’s razing to make way for a new shopping centre called Emporium Melbourne, that he launched the Save Lonsdale House website to raise awareness of the building's controversial demolition.
The website, launched on 5 August, features information on the building's history, architect Illiffe Gordon Anderso, heritage significance and how the decision to demolish it, announced on 26 July, came about. Visitors can also sign an online petition, join the Save Lonsdale House facebook group, volunteer to distribute posters and pamphlets and comment on relevant blog-sites.
So far, Save Lonsdale House has generated over 1,500 signatures on its online petition, and there are over 1,300 members of its Facebook group.
Despite the website's popularity, Fishlock is realistic about the influence it will have on Lonsdale's doomed future. "We don't believe that we can actually save the building, which is really sad. I'm gutted because it's one of my favourite buildings in Melbourne, but we hope that we can make it a case study to show all levels of government, from local councils through to the state government and developers, that this sort of thing is not on," he said.
Fishlock also believes that if buildings like Lonsdale House continue to be demolished, Melbourne will lose its reputation of being a great heritage city. "Where do we draw the line?" he asked. "If you demolish every building of Lonsdale House's quality, you're going to end up with a Melbourne that is just a bunch of glass boxes with nothing interesting about it."
The site also includes an invitation to a community protest, scheduled to take place on 22 August on the corner of Lonsdale Street and Caledonian Lane.
