25 July 2019

A famous bit of #heritagecompromise in #SmithStreetCollingwood (actually the #Fitzroy side). In the 1980s a redevelopment saw the old Ackmans Store (aka ‘Monster Furniture Arcade’), which occupied a whole block, completely demolished except for the very front wall, to allow a then very large Safeway’s supermarket, with a rooftop carpark, leaving the taller facades just open to the sky.

Found a couple of old pics, they took a floor off, that’s a shame. Kept the great #ArtNouveau curly #wroughtiron sign though.

The middle bit was actually built as the Collingwood Coffee Palace in 1879, the first #CoffeePalace in Australia, would have had a grand dining room and maybe billiard room, but taken over by Ackmans maybe 30 years later, adding a floor, and no doubt opening out the interiors.

Update 2024 : redevelopment of the supermarket and filling in behind the facades has been mooted, but no announcement, it looks the same as it did 37 years ago.

I wasnt sure exactly what happened here, and got in contact with a member of the residents action group that opposed it at the time, and was sent a lot of clippings, so this is the chronology :

In early 1983 a development which would have kept and reused much of the building for shops, offices, a small supermarket and a restaurant was proposed. Local residents formed the Gore Street Area Action Group, opposing the scale, the late opening restaurant, and traffic / parking issues. Fitzroy Council said OK, and the residents group lost when they took it to the Planning Appeals Board in April 1984. In April 1985 a different development was proposed, with just a large Safeways supermarket and rooftop parking, retaining only the front facades and some side walls, which the residents group also opposed, this time saying the heritage retention wasnt good enough, and still had traffic issues, but Council approved, with the closure of both side streets. July 1986 a Melbourne Times article showed the demolition from behind, criticising the facades as looking like a cardboard cut-out, which seems to be the first time anyone realised what it would look like. In May 1987 the supermarket opened.

22 July 2025

So the infamous propped facades on Smith Street are finally to be filled in ! They’re even going to rebuild a floor that was taken off in the 80s – but they still end up looking like facades. Architects Woods Bagot.

Images via @demolished_melbourne, from the planning permit – which is now apparently at VCAT. I read that Woolworths is planning to build a store on the gasworks site 1/2 mile up the street.

• Uncategorized