FOR decades they’ve been sneered at for their tackiness and ostentation, their concrete lions and ubiquitous pillars the butt of endless jokes, but it seems Fremantle is finally warming to its ‘wog palaces’.
The distinctive migrant houses from the post-war era are to be considered for inclusion on the city’s municipal heritage inventory next time it’s reviewed by Fremantle council.
The move follows an outcry from residents in Malcolm Street who say the council recently approved the destruction of one of Fremantle’s best examples of the architectural style now being termed Fediterranea.
The acting director of Fremantle council’s planning department, Paul Garbett, agrees the style hasn’t been given its proper respect.
“The heritage values of post WW2 period buildings, including houses of an architectural style that reflect cultural values of occupants who may be migrants or descendents of migrants from Mediterranean countries, have probably not received sufficient formal recognition through heritage assessment processes,” Mr Garbett told the Herald.
“The City intends to take action to address this.”
Fremantle mayor Brad Pettitt says he’s noticed the gradual warming to the style and says the council’s just catching up with owners who already celebrate their homes’ European heritage rather than trying to demolish it.
“Migrant architecture tells an important story about the evolution of Fremantle as a unique place and I agree there is a strong case for the best examples of it being heritage listed,” he said.
“Interestingly and fortunately I think it is a style that is becoming desirable in its own right and we are seeing owners keep migrant architectre voluntarily.”
But it’s too late for the Malcolm Street home, which has locals seething.
Curtin university cultural studies lecturer Suvendrini Perera led the charge.
“They’re a bunch of pseudo-liberals masquerading as Greens and Labor,” she thundered to the Herald about the council’s planning committee, reiterating twice she wanted that on the record.
Ms Perera says other councils across the country are already recognising Fediterranea’s importance and given Fremantle’s strong migrant connections the council should have been ahead of the game. She says racism played a part in Aussies slagging off the homes, and the changing attitudes towards its heritage status is a sign of how families from the Mediterranean are now so familiar they’re part of the furniture.
by STEVE GRANT