Another partial victory ! Instead of just keeping the two street walls and the verandah of the 1915 Kilkenny Inn on King & Lonsdale as first proposed, they’re now keeping 7.5m depth, including (some) internal walls ! Which hopefully means one fireplace and what looks like an original opening, and the upstairs corner room which reportedly has ‘shamrock themed’ plasterwork. I like to think this is all because of the letter I drafted for @melbourne_heritage_action, but the CofM heritage advisers opposition might have helped too. The new tower will still loom over (but the very first designs by @coxarchitecture were even worse!) and we will lose the short bluestone paved #GoughAlley, and the nice 1920s Paramount Office next door, but it’s a win given that planning started well before the new heritage guidelines (which would in fact mandate far more retention). An example of the 80m high as-of-right on corners leading to developers /designers wanting to fill up the available area – but really in this case narrower and taller much better all round than this compromise- but I guess shorter and wider is more remunerative.

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