21 July 2010

Another swing at heritage listing the bus depot

| johnboy
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Our Brave Leader has announced that on the second attempt the ACT Heritage Council has agreed to provisionally list the former bus depot in Kingston on the ACT’s Heritage Register.

Mr Stanhope said the listing acknowledged the historical significance of the site, which dates back to the 1940s…

In making its decision, the Council noted the significance of the building’s fully welded rigid steel portal frames, its historic value to early transport workers and their families and its significance in the early and continuing development of Canberra.

It’s now a matter for consultation until 18 August.

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troll-sniffer4:04 pm 23 Jul 10

Clown Killer said :

My standard response to the overly pro-heritage types is to ask them what would have been the consequences for Rome, Paris and London if heritage laws had been in place since the middle ages. That usually floors them.

I’m guessing you’ve never been to Rome, Paris or London then.

I have, but you obviously haven’t stopped to look at what they would have become if left in their crowded haphazard and jumbled state before commenting from a position of ignorance.

Suggest you do a little research before commenting off the cuff in future.

Clown Killer11:55 am 23 Jul 10

My standard response to the overly pro-heritage types is to ask them what would have been the consequences for Rome, Paris and London if heritage laws had been in place since the middle ages. That usually floors them.

I’m guessing you’ve never been to Rome, Paris or London then.

screaming banshee said :

Stupid thing is its not Canberra’s first bus depot, that’s long gone.

Sad thing is, it took this many comments for someone to bring that up. Will Katy be listing the Kingston powerhouse or the Civic rail line as heritage items too?

troll-sniffer9:59 am 23 Jul 10

Heritage clowns are an insidious cancer on the flesh of an evolving dynamic city. In small numbers with limited power they are little more than a justifiable annoyance, occasionally finding a genuine heritage aspect of our history worth saving, but more often than not just pushing their own need for sentimentalism at the expense of society’s best interests.

The possible demise of the bus depot has obviously triggered a latent yearning for the good old days in some folk who would rather see inefficient costly and frankly quite fugly buildings retained so that they can suffer less culture shock when driving down Canberra Ave. Not a particularly good reason for retaining sheds with little merit, architecturally or culturally.

As for the above quoted significant factors… what a load of bollocks. By those flimsy unaccountable standards virtually any shed, fence, open area, rubbish tip or eyesore could qualify as being unique in construction and of significance to one group or another.

My standard response to the overly pro-heritage types is to ask them what would have been the consequences for Rome, Paris and London if heritage laws had been in place since the middle ages. That usually floors them.

screaming banshee9:23 pm 22 Jul 10

No its not just you, I’m not sure whether people have some sort of attachment to a shed with teabags on the rafters, or every time this comes up people think it will kill the bus depot markets so oppose it. At the end of the day its just a old shack on prime real estate with no greater significance than ‘people used to fix buses here’

Stupid thing is its not Canberra’s first bus depot, that’s long gone.

la mente torbida1:38 pm 22 Jul 10

FFS! It must be me, isn’t it just a fibro shed?

If they are going to list this thing as a heritage item, at least show it some respect and upgrade it…

A modern intervention into a heritage item like those done so frequently by tonkin zulaikha greer up in sydney or the NSW Mint by FJMT, could make this shed into a vibrant piece of the Kingston foreshore puzzle.

To leave it in its current state does the area a dis-service.

Funny how an objective, independent process failed the depot the first time around and then passed it the second time. What changed? Surely not the depot.

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