Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Save Lonsdale House!

Images of Lonsdale House in Melbourne, found here on Flickr.

Some of Melbourne's most beautiful buildings are the art deco buildings which line the streets and laneways of the CBD... such as the Manchester Unity Building, Nicholas Building and Carlow House. They are such a valuable part of Melbourne's beautiful city character. It's almost impossible to imagine the CBD without them.

The deco facade of Lonsdale House was designed in 1934-35 by I G Anderson, to combine two 19th Century buildings. This beautiful building is earmarked for demolition due to Myer's re-development of their Lonsdale St store... and rumour has it, possibly a new Apple store in the CBD?

I don't often jump on the 'good cause' bandwagon or express my political views on this blog... but I feel in this case compelled to share this sad news! I also feel that most of you would agree that it would be an awful shame to see this building demolished to make way for a new development? Don't get me wrong, I love my Apple laptop... but wouldn't it be nice to go shopping in a beautiful re-purposed art deco building, instead of a slick new shiny glass box?

What you can do

- Sign the petition! (I just did - there are only 866 signatures so far... come on!!)
- Visit the Save Lonsdale House website to learn more about the proposed development
- Blog it, Tweet it - spread the word! The internet is a powerful vehicle to make a difference...

Lets get cracking!

8 comments:

  1. I just signed and tweeted. I can't believe they are really thinking of doing this! Tragedy.

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  2. you've got to be kidding me, lucy. that's so bloody ridiculous. i always look up and admire this building whenever i go past. will sign the petition now. x

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  3. I just signed it! What a horrible thing to do, it should be illegal.

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  4. Unbelievable. How very un-Melbourne! I was in town from Sydney last week and wondered what was going to become of it as I drove past one day.

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  5. too sad and a very unbelievable predicament! i love apple too but surely there are other ways, as you say, refurb not demolish. thanks for the links, ill be reading more x

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  6. Great initiative! I'm 1053 and don't even live in melbourne, love the place though. You melbournites unite on this one.

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  7. Hi Luce
    So good you have bought this issue up but I thought I should let you know some bad news..... I wrote to the Minister for Planning a few weeks ago and they wrote back to me saying the decision has been made for the better of Victoria - apparently!!!!! Lets hope they do change their mind though!
    Keep up your great blog!
    C xx

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  8. Oh how ridiculous! It seems like a complete no brainer to leave buildings like this, its amazing that people would even consider demolishing it. I'm signing the petition right now! Thanks for sharing!

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