No avant-garde structure for Hay
Council favours pulling down entire former ANZ Bank building
By Tertia Butcher
An amended application for the demolition of the former ANZ Bank building was approved by Council at its recent meeting, which will see the entire structure being pulled down.
This comes after Council imposed a condition that the remaining front wall be subject to engineer designed support.
“I considered this condition to be unnecessary,” the applicant, and owner of the building, Roger McGrath said.
“It’s a bit over the top.
“The proposed remaining wall was to be very low, some 4’1” to 5’6” high.
“The wall has been standing for almost 100 years and this part of the building is very thick and in good structural condition.
“I do not recall any new front fences of such a height ever requiring an engineer’s design. It especially seems unrealistic since the structure is already in existence.
“My initial intention was to retain a portion of the front wall to act as a dividing fence and aesthetic buffer between the street and the resultant vacant block.
“I thought the bottom portion of the front wall along with the current iron gateway would look somewhat more attractive than a bare block with a view of the Foodworks toilet block at the rear, at least in the short term.
“I was asking for some common sense to be used in the approval conditions.
“Given there will need to be fencing and hording to protect the front street and public during demolition anyway, the requirement for an engineer’s design for the retention of the lower front wall is simply unnecessary.”
Mr McGrath said the original proposal was for the demolition of the building and that the retention of the lower part of the front wall was purely for aesthetics and to provide a barrier to the vacant block in the short term, but not a necessity.
“In fact, it will be more difficult for me to incorporate any part of the former building into any new design plans I come up with in the future,” he added.
“Not having the wall there at all will in the long term be better for me.
“The caveat lector to this though is, it will take a long time for me to raise enough funds to proceed further than demolition.
“So there may be a vacant block for quite some time to come.”
The former ANZ Bank building will be demolished to make way for a planned restaurant. Image: The Riverine Grazier archives.
