Challenges in Protecting 1960s Architect-Designed Houses

Despite the involvement of architects, lawyers, conservationists, the local community, publicity on television and an unprecedented decision by the New South Wales Land and Environment Court to refuse the demolition of one of the architect-designed houses in a 1964 project home display village, the house looks set to be demolished shortly. Its likely demise highlights the weakness in the NSW heritage system for less widely recognized heritage places. The case has become a cause celebre of the heritage movement in trying to save Australia’s mid-twentieth-century modern architecture and landscapes.

Figure 1 No. 27 Richmond Avenue (left) and No. 25 Richmond Avenue (right) are two of the eight houses in the first Pettit & Sevitt display village, St Ives. No. 27 was the subject of an application for demolition, its subsequent refusal by the local council and the NSW Land and Environment Court, and its final approval for demolition by the local council. The landscape setting for the duration of the project home display village was designed by landscape architect Bruce Mackenzie. (Max Dupain & Associates)

Figure 2 No. 25 Richmond Avenue (left) and No. 27 Richmond Avenue (right). This view shows the rear of No. 27, which opens up to the rear yard and to the northern sun through the full-height timber window wall. (Max Dupain & Associates)

Scott Robertson BSc(Arch), BArch(Hons), M.B.Env(Blg Conservation), RAIA

Scott Robertson is a director of the Sydney-based architectural practice of Robertson & Hindmarsh Pty Ltd. He undertook a landmark study of interwar housing in NSW for the National Trust of Australia in 1993 and a study of sites used in New South Wales during the First and Second World Wars. He is a member of the National Trust of Australia’s Urban Conservation Committee, the Inaugural President of Docomomo Australia, the Vice-President of the Art Deco Society of NSW, a member of Australia ICOMOS, a former National Councillor and Treasurer of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects and a part-time lecturer in architectural practice at the University of New South Wales.

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Donhead Publishing 2012