FREMANTLE council has received an application to demolish the gold rush era Port Stationery building in the West End.

“Gee, that’s a tough one,” Fremantle Society president John Dowson told the Herald.

“I’ve been through the building and seen it, and it’s a tough call because it was badly altered in the 1940s and it would need a lot of money to restore.”

Mr Dowson says there are “interesting features” such as a timber ceiling which could make the building worth saving, but he said it would need a committed owner.

In 2011 the building had been recommended for inclusion on the city’s heritage inventory but councillor Andrew Sullivan, an architect, had it removed when owner Robin Braham opposed its inclusion.

Mr Braham had argued the city had only viewed the building from the street, which didn’t give a true picture of its reduced heritage value.
He said a listing would restrict him from “progressing development for the betterment of Fremantle”.

Since then, the State Heritage Council has considered giving the entire West End precinct state heritage protection.

Mayor Brad Pettitt told the Herald many in the community consider the West End “sacred” and the council will “err on the side of caution” when considering the demolition application.

Dr Pettitt at first told the Herald he was unaware of the issue until earlier this week: when the Herald mentioned we’d spotted him chatting recently to the owner’s son, award-winning architect Ben Braham, he changed his unawareness to, “it was not clear to me if it was a demolition”.

“It was mostly about potential uses of the site and I hadn’t seen any plans,” he clarified.

“But I was aware it was going higher.”

Mr Dowson says any additional height, particularly at the front, would irreparably damage the historic streetscape.
“What’s there fits with the scale of the street, and it’s a critically essential element in terms of the original precinct.”

Fellow society committee member Robert Bodkin, who owns an iconic shoe shop across from the building, has written to the council pleading for the application to be rejected.

“If the present owner is not able or willing to restore this building he needs to move on,” he said.

He is also concerned demolition could result in the site being left vacant, as there is no replacement plan submitted that he is aware of.

by STEVE GRANT