I remember reading about the fate of The Stork Hotel quite a while ago. I stored it in my file of infuriating facts and due to the many distractions in life I forgot to go down and photograph the old pub while it was still a working concern. I am kicking myself right now for being so easily distracted. When I finally visited the site the other day I found the place boarded up and dry.
There has been much talk about demolishing this old pub. How can they do it? If it goes it will take over 152 years of history to scrap and landfill. If it goes it will be replaced no doubt by a tall building. Some glassy, horrible, grimy, concrete facade that ages and appears to decay before your eyes. Bye- bye human scale and the whisperings of history. Bye-bye diverse and pleasant streetscapes that make Melbourne such a pretty town.
I often wonder who will ever love the new buildings enough to be upset when their departure eventually comes . Who will see a different detail in their workmanship every time they pass them on the street? Who will care about a concrete shell when the old bluestone and bricks have been wiped away years ago?
The Stork has sat calmly watching the Melbourne crowds for years. It even housed and ‘refreshed’ many a miner going off to dig around in the dust of Ballarat for their gold. It has also been a nice spot to sit outside and have a beer on a warm Spring day and watch the colourful Vic Market crowds.
On the facade of The Stork it does say 1925 but that was a facelift done at the time and the true heart of this pub is over 152 years old. Can I repeat that often enough? No. After all, apparently some one has decided that this 1920’s facelift has rendered the history of this site null and void. Bull!
If you climb up the hill to Swanston St and walk a few blocks there you will find another old pub being ‘developed’. The Canada is currently being converted to flats. I took this photo quite a while ago and it now has grown a hat of concrete shelves. At least they had to keep the facade of the pub but I wouldn’t call it progress.
Filed under: Melbourne, Victoria, crumbling buildings and rusting iron, culture, life | Tagged: 1852, history, loss, Melbourne, The Stork
Sad news. The Canada Hotel is terrible. Die facadism. Could anything be uglier than Safeway in Smith Street? These buildings can be utilised within their shells.
I’m always sad to see historic buildings bulldozed in the name of progress. There’s a reason people cross half the world to see ancient ruins in Greece, Italy, Egypt, Cambodia …
Andrew,
I agree, there is nothing worse than gutting old buildings and losing their character like they did with the Smith St Safeway. The Canada is so bad it is almost funny. In the building advertisement they have painted the pub a charcoal grey colour and tried to make it disappear so that you will concentrate on the concrete building on top. It is laughable, completely incongruous and no sense of scale.
James,
It is a really sad situation and it just seems to be happening all the time at the moment. Exactly right, people don’t want to see generic buildings, they want to be able to experience the buildings of the past and the way people lived. It is all very short-sighted on the part of the authorities here.
Even the 1925 facelift on the Stork makes it interesting for today’s viewer. And the colours were cheery. You’ve got a point about the glass towers, who’s going to care when these ugly aquariums have done their time?
I share your sentiments on matters like this. Many of the old buildings become a part of our heritage. We have one slum lord who has bought up a large slice of historical Port Elizabeth and the buildings are being systematically trashed. I am sure it is a strategy to get them to a state whem all you can do is break them down and replace them with a souless concrete and glass monstrosity. We are fighting this one thouh.
This makes me so flippin’ cross!
Aussie councils/govts seem hell-bent on destroying every lasting remnant of our heritage, disregarding past architects designs, builders flair, the street-scape that was far kinder on the eyes than the ugly glass and steel monstrosities that big business shoves down our gullets.
A little aside on the classification of old buildings – if you’ve ever been through Fortuna Villa in Bendigo ( George Lansell’s massive mansion owned and looked after by the Army) you’d be gob-smacked to learn the “powers that be” refused to give it heritage protection or classification as the styles of parts of the mansion were different, describing it as “a Victoriana abortion”.
But the 2 bloody ugly pine trees at the front door of it got protection.
lavenderbay,
I’m not even sure why 20’s facades are so disposable. It was an interesting pub with a very mixed clientele :
backpackers, blues fans, local city characers and drama enthusiasts. The aquariums to me are just greed symbols – allowing battery -farm style offices and maximising profits. Eyesores nearly everyone.
Max-e,
I’m so glad you can fight the vandalism of your historic buildings Max-e. We do have agencies that are supposed to keep an eye on things but they seem to have very little power or a bias towards the grand rather than the more humble examples. It is just so frustrating really.
Jayne,
They do seem hell-bent! Thanks for all the information on Fortuna and you are right, I am speechless! Bloody hell. How do these decisions get through even though they are clearly flawed, nutty or dubious! I know it is often the old greed / money thing but I do wonder what exactly Heritage Victoria does for a crust.