News / Planning
Neighbours vow to protect ‘Beatrice’
Concerns a new owner could demolish all but original building’s facade
Mark Phillips
NEIGHBOURS of a 115-year-old Brunswick house currently on the market have launched a pre-emptive campaign to warn any moves to demolish it will be met with a fight.
Residents in Barry Street fear the rundown house at number 28, known as ‘Beatrice’, could be fully or partly demolished by a new owner. They are concerned that it is being marketed as development opportunity.
Built in 1910, Beatrice was until recently occupied by squatters and has fallen into disrepair over the years.
The weatherboard house is in a street that has a heritage overlay but this would only protect the facade from being demolished.
Beatrice was built by Victor Heiberg, who was responsible for a number of significant houses in Melbourne’s inner north in the first decades of the 20th century.
The house is now on the market with an auction set for April 12. The agents are quoting between $760,000 and $835,000 – more than 30% below the median price for the area. It is being advertised as having been held by the same owners since it was built.
Neighbours say the house has been empty for more than a decade, apart from squatters, and while it is run down, it does not need to be demolished and rebuilt.
From the outside, the corrugated iron roof is sagging and rusted, and some of its wooden boards are damaged. Windows are boarded up, but the brick chimney is intact and the name ‘Beatrice’ above the front verandah is clearly visible.
Adam Newman, an architect who lives next door and has seen inside the building, said he was concerned that planning laws could allow all of the house to be torn down and a new one built behind its facade.
“It’s totally salvageable,” he said.
“If it was brick, it would be problematic but being timber framed it just needs to be restumped.
“The last squatters actually did some renovation work and put in a new window. It’s a big project and a lot of work but it’s salvageable.”
Ben Campbell, who restored a house of similar vintage on the corner of Barry and Dawson streets last year, agrees.
Campbell, a builder whose business specialises in restorations of period homes, said it had great potential to be preserved for future generations.
“Compared to what the condition of our house was, this is in a really good nick,” he said. “It’s got good bones.”
A planning permit was issued in 2018 for the partial demolition of the house including alterations and additions to the existing dwelling.
This would have resulted in a new four bedroom, two bathroom house and a new garage, but it is understood that the permit has expired.
Bulleke-bek ward councillor Jay Iwaskai, who visited the house at the request of its neighbours, said it would be a shame to see part of Brunswick’s history destroyed by a developer.
“It’s relatively well protected by council’s existing heritage overlays,” Iwasaki said.
“In the past, the biggest issue would have been demolition by neglect but there are now strengthened powers against that, but it does come down to structural soundness.
“Brunswick has a really interesting mix of historic architecture and heritage that is juxtaposed against new things coming up, and we want to keep that history.
“This is such a beautiful building and it’s not great to hear that it is being marketed as something that could be torn down.
“This is a good example of the historic architecture and heritage that we want to keep which can be an asset to the neighbourhood for a long time.”
The selling agents, Ray White Brunswick, did not respond to requests for comment.
The builder of Beatrice, Victor Heiberg, left his mark on Brunswick with several eccentric houses which still remain in the suburb.
Of either Danish or German origin, Heiberg came to Melbourne early in the twentieth century in his 20s, and raised four children in Brunswick with his Australian-born wife.
He established a small fish and chip stall in Albert Street but was targeted during World War One in a protest against German immigrants. This did not deter Heiberg, who continued building and renovating houses after the war.
Updated Sunday, April 13: The house was sold at auction on Saturday, April 12, for $1,010,000. The reserve had been $900,000.
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