Powerhouse Parramatta

I object ....

Dear Sir,

I object to the proposed disturbance of the property in general and the building known as Willowgrove at Phillip Street, Parramatta in particular.

Many people admire the old buildings in Europe. Built well and still standing. Testaments to the history of the town or region. Many of the same people are scornful of Australia for NOT having such magnificent and lasting monumental buildings representing our country's history. Well of course European settlement does not have such a long history in Australia - so such old buildings are yet to age to the same extent!

Think - please.

Every magnificent historical old building that is dismantled is another gone forever that will not reach an age to be venerated in the same way as those magnificent structures in Europe. Copies cannot hold the same respect as originals maintained on their own location.

Also copies of old buildings will not be built in the same way, and likely will not last as long - going by the lack of concern with building standards here in NSW, as demonstrated on the TV news this evening!!

I urge you to resist the pressure to deprive our future of real evidence of history.

Find a different solution and maintain Willowgrove as it is, and for other heritage listed properties - maintain them as well.

I object …. QUITE SIMPLY…….WHO ON THIS EARTH, IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD "REMOVE HISTORY" TO BUILD A “ MUSEUM"???!!! THIS HAS TO BE THE DUMBEST THING TO EVER OCCUR!!!!
IF ANYTHING WAS TO OCCUR, WHY ON EARTH WOULDN'T YOU INTERGRATE THE BUILDING INTO THE CENTRE OF THE POWERHOUSE MUSEUM AS A LIVING PART OF HISTORY, FILL IT WITH MUSEUM PIRCES RELATIVE TO THE BUILDING OR , IT BE A GATHERING RELAXING CAFE’ AND EATERY AREA IN A COURTYARD TYPE EXPERIENCE.
SERIOUSLY THE MOST MIND BLOWING EXAMPLE OF STUPIDITY AND IRONY ROLLED INTO 1 EVER TO BE SEEN!!!

EXTREMELY ANGRY…….Jason Mclean

I object ....

To the removal of Willow Grove In Parramatta.
Please can we stop removing unique cultural icons of architecture and normalising this behaviour as "improving" when it is clearly erasing history. We will forever be a new country with overridden history books if we keep clearing the land of its stories.

The Powerhouse project should stay in the city. The city does NOT need more development, but not does Willow Grove need to suffer in its place.

Please consider Parramatta's history and if The Powerhouse Project must resume, a location that is not going to missed once flattened to the ground, would be best.

I object to Willow Grove's destruction. It is an invaluable building that must be preserved. Sydney is blessed with an abundance of breathtaking natural beauty but cursed, it appears, with an equally breathtaking lack of appreciation for its architectural history.

Yours sincerely,

Andy Porter

I want to strongly voice my objection to the demolition of Willow Grove.

This should never happen. If it was myself wanting to knock it down to build a bigger home, I would never get permission, but apparently the Government doesn’t give a crap about Heritage listings.
This building is our history. Pulling it down and replacing it somewhere else is like raping our history. It will not be willow grove as not everything will be able to be saved when dismantling it and by then it will be too late and they will just say we tried but it couldn’t be saved.

The new museum needs to be built elsewhere or be built incorporating willow grove. DO NOT DEMOLISH WILLOW GROVE. Yes I just yelled that.

I object ....
To the demolition of Wills Grove

I object .... to this ridiculous waste of public money. Nobody from Sydney of overseas is going to go to Parramatta to the Powerhouse, & the relentless destruction of ancient buildings in this country needs to stop.
Save Willow Grove

G'day Marcus,

I am writing to respond to the proposed demolition and relocation of Willow Grove and it's associated landscape from Phillip Street in Parramatta.

I believe Willow Grove is utterly unique to the architectural landscape of the Parramatta CBD in so far as it serves as the last building of it’s kind to retain some semblance of it’s original context. It’s fence and gate posts, lawns, soft gravel driveway and trees make Willow Grove exceptional among the stone and brick heritage that remains and the glass and steel buildings that have grown up around it. It has personal significance to many, provides a faithful window into Parramatta’s proud past for anyone with so much as a fleeting interest in history and has in recent years contributed to the enhancement of public events, festivals and celebrations such as Parramasala and Parramatta Lanes.

The retention and integration of Willow Grove and it’s curtilage serves as a keystone feature of Parramatta’s planned public plaza, as do the view lines it would afford and the open free flow of people from the planned plaza into the planned river square. The Civic Link project is the result of over a decade of planning by successive local council, has the potential to substantially enhance our cityscape and is a critical part of our city’s cultural plan. To derail, dilute or impair the delivery of this objective is counterproductive to the development of our city and it’s public spaces.

The demolish and recreation of Willow Grove for use elsewhere at North Parramatta within the Parramatta North Urban Transformation Area or the lands adjoining the former Parramatta Gaol could perhaps, if done thoughtfully, make some kind of sense. For example if reconstructed on the former location of the previously demolished Mrs Betts' house and aligned on axis with the spires of St Johns, it could be used to help interpret and/or reflect a formerly important landscape feature within the precinct and it’s connection with early township. However it stands to reason that if consideration is to be given to interpreting/reflecting or responding to history, and/or responding to surroundings, Willow Grove really should be left in Phillip Street and the proposed Parramatta Powerhouse should rather be accommodated in North Parramatta. This seems to make sense on a multitude of levels.

A Parramatta Powerhouse sited in the NPUT area would allow Willow Grove to be retained, it would allow the Civic Link public plaza to be realised, it would allow the planned river square to be delivered, it would be consistent with Infrastructure NSW’s recommendation that the PNUT area serve as a place for future Arts and Culture infrastructure, it would have direct access to the Parramatta Light Rail, it would be co-located with UNESCO World Heritage Listed Parramatta Park (like the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the American Museum of Natural History, on the Upper East Side and West Side of Manhattan, either side of Central Park), it could serve as a catalyst for other arts and cultural development within the PNUT area, it would have space to grow and, perhaps most importantly, it would breath desperately needed life and public activation into what could one day be every bit as important to the people of Greater Sydney and New South Wales as Southbank and it’s surrounding parks and gardens are to the people of Greater Melbourne and Victoria.

If there is absolutely no way that the NSW Government can see the logic in moving the Parramatta Powerhouse to a more suitable and less constrained site within Parramatta then integration of Willow Grove should be reconsidered as an opportunity rather than something to be erased. For example moving the western building further west towards Altitude and affording a wider plaza and retention of Willow Grove appears possible, and would seem to allow a much better compromise than what the current set of artist impressions show.

While I welcome the delivery of what will hopefully shape up to be the first proper piece of fair dinkum arts and cultural infrastructure to come west of ultimo in my lifetime, I really think that demolishing Willow Grove, ruining the Civic Link and River Square and shoehorning a Parramatta Powerhouse into a heavily constrained site in the CBD, rather than seizing the opportunity to create an expansive new home for the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in the PNUT area, is the worst possible way to fumble it up.

Thank you for your time spent reading this email.

I object to the demolition of Willow Grove house in Phillip Street

I object to the removal of Willow Grove only to put a replica near Parramatta Gaol.

Our family spent many happy years in Parramatta from the late 50s through to the 80s. It is a sad state of affairs indeed to learn of the loss of so much of the history. Historical buildings gone in all directions. What if this happened in Europe but of course it wouldn't. Please no more!

Kind Regards,

Wendy K Ford
Former Parramatta Resident and now a concerned onlooker.

I object to the removal of this grand structure from Parramatta.

A replica is an outrage. Already there has been a significant amount of buildings / houses / dwellings in the Parramatta district that have been removed for development.

How about we keep our History before it’s all gone???

Attention all parties,

I absolutely condemn the vandalism involved in moving Willow Grove or demolishing or doing anything in any way to destroy this history. We have destroyed enough in our lifetimes. We are not a civilized society if this is what we do to the places which describe who we are and what out mark on this country has been.

Enough!!! Time to stop and time to value what we have over money, profit and investors.

Stop NOW!

Dear Sir,

I object to the proposed relocation of the Willow Grove building from its Phillip Street setting. Moving it anywhere would destroy its social history significance. Surely this must be realised by those planning folk who are proposing this "move" that history is lost once removed from where it was built.

I have a particular interest in this building as together with my brother, Ron, and sister, Dorothy, I was born in this building, as were so many others in the late 40's and early 50's.

I am sure that there are clever architects who could incorporate this structure into a contemporary and modern facility which would be a proud addition to the history of the town.

Sincerely
Robert Yuen BSc Arch, BArch

I object ....very strongly to Willow Grove being moved and worse demolished.
This historic house must be retained. We have lost so much of our history.
It Must be saved!

Moving such large and delicate objects is a major concern.

There will be a loss of jobs at the Ultimo Powerhouse and business in the surrounding area will be affected.

There are problems with safely housing precious exhibits in satisfactory museum conditions in the planned Parramatta Powerhouse.

Please build a museum in Western Sydney on another site that doesn’t involve the destruction of more of our heritage buildings. Also, leave the existing Powerhouse where it is at its significant site, as there is no valid reason to move it.

Yours faithfully
Jenny and John Hilditch
(National Trust members)

I object ....

I object to the planned demolition of Willow Grove and the building of a replica near the old Parramatta Gaol.

This amazing building belongs at its present site where it has stood for 140 years representing a key part of Parramatta's history.

I suggest a better outcome would be to ideally move the planned "museum" to Parramatta North. Failing that a redesign of the museum/entertainment building to leave Willow Grove as is should be readily achievable.

Thank You

Michael Houlahan

Hi I object ....
To the relocation and/or replication of Willow Grove in Phillip St Parrmatta.
This beautiful old building is a part of Parramatta’s heritage.
Please do NOT destroy this home

I object to the demolition of Willow Grove and the loss of trees and green space in our busy and cluttered Parramatta. Overseas similar projects manage to blend old with new and enhance the history of the area. We have few building that date back so far in the city of Parramatta. It just seems ridiculous to destroy our heritage while making a building to store and display other exhibitions from more recent times. I would love to see Willow Grove given back its land down to the rivers edge and for all to enjoy a park instead.
The museum should be built in North Parramatta well away from flooding.
Thank you for your time to read this email.
Sincerely
Clare Muzzatti