A petition calling on a derelict “architectural monstrosity” in Sunshine to be demolished has attracted 240 signatures despite the building’s historical significance.
Brimbank council voted last September to make the former home of famous Australian inventor Headlie Taylor, on the corner of Durham Road and Watt Street, an “individual significant building”.
Taylor invented the header harvester which revolutionised the grain industry around the world.
That decision came a month after the council rejected an application by the property’s owner to demolish Headlie House and build six double storey units at the site.
An appeal of that decision will be heard in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on April 14.
HEADLIE TAYLOR. PICTURE: MUSEUM VICTORIA
The council may now call on the Planning Minister to organise a panel to hear two unresolved submissions over the council’s desire to give the site “individual heritage significance”.
The submissions came from the owner and a neighbouring land owner.
A petition lodged to the council called Headlie House “an architectural monstrosity out of character within the area… ugly… derelict, a firetrap due to squatters… a hotbed for drug dealing/drug users… attracts undesirables to the area”.
The council said “residents and business people in the immediate area” signed the petition to have the building demolished.
While some argue the building should be retained because of its connection to Headlie Taylor, who lived in it until his death in 1957, others believe much of it heritage significance has been lost due to alterations.
