Heritage Cases

The following alterations are being proposed by Messes.designworkshop:sa for the new owners of these buildings. The demolition of the Benjamin Hotel entrance portico (Built in 1996) The demolition of the odd bow shaped facade to the Florida Road side building 1 Demolition (built in 1996) The demolition of the boundary wall to building 2 ( on Florida Road boundary, built in 1996), the boundary wall to building 1 (on Florida Road boundary 1996) Demolition of link between building 1 & 2 (built in 1996) to create new entrance to the consolidated sites, with new first floor linking the two buildings and the hotel. Removal of Lattice screens the ground floor of building 2's verandah. The demolition of the odd small room on the original verandah of building 2( South end of building 2's verandah, built 1996). Conversion of the Courtyard dining area to building , from enclosed to covered on ( built in 1996). Removal of the poorly detailed, historicist mouldings to the head of all windows ( added in 1996). to be replaced with a simple square reveals. Conversion of ground floor of both buildings into restaurants. hotel to remain but to operate on the first floor and the ground floor of building 1. internal wall removal to make restaurant use possible. addition of covered dining verandah's to both buildings ( to roof area between building and boundary, making usable, covered, outdoor dining spaces), the floor levels of these verandahs are to relate to the levels of the existing floor of both buildings. outbuildings of both buildings to have minor alterations. General layout of hotel rooms to be changed to a better, more effecient layout (see Sketch). Addition of new external fire escape stair to external north facade of building 2. The retention of the areas and features need as having architectural merit in this report, will be respected and incorporated in the new development. The proposed changes to the Benjamin Hotel are designed to increase the ground floor interaction with Florida Road. This-in keeping with the general trend and the City's policy of increasing the activity on the boundary edge and also for these activities to spill over onto the pavements to contribute to this highly successful activity corridor. This will add to an already vibrant commercial activity precinct that is in turn creating jobs, increasing properly values and increasing the rates income for the City. These changes will hopefully also increase the commercial potential of this section of Florida and the now ( very troubling) vacant Grade III building across the road might benefit from this activation. The architectural language of the intervention is clean, simple and understand, it satisfies good conservation principles as prescribed in the UNESCO Burra Charter of...." in keeping with... but clear expressed as new". this proposal is a very sympathetic intervention. The spacing of the new minimalist colonnade of the verandah pick up the articulation of the existing building ( building1) perfectly ( a clear statement of understanding and respect). The Architectural significance of these buildings are not high, mainly because of the incongruous alteration on 1996. Very little detail of the original Victorian and Edwardian buildings remain. The scale, bulk, articulation and rythem of these building make them important buildings in the Florida Road street scape- this has been retained in the proposed development.