Here’s a pretty crazy one – an office tower for the corner of #LittleLonsdaleStreet and #BennettsLane, approved in 2019, is this convoluted shape so as not to overshadow the recently created green space behind the #WesleyChurch between 1 and 2pm. You’d think it wouldn’t be commercially viable, but apparently it’s ‘boutique’. There’s some rather altered warehouses and one old house/shop that they were just going to demolish, and soon after were proposed to be part of an expanded #heritageprecinct, so now they’re going to keep some facades – something not allowed in the new guidelines, so this is obviously a compromise. The warehouses are already facades, and the corner one will go, not sure how much of the house they’ll keep, or what’s left, or even how old it is.

I don’t actually mind the weird shape, but I’d much prefer a setback after the low brick podium, rather than building straight up 10 floors right on little lon, more or less. Also way too much development for a narrow lane, once a charming byway with a jazz club, now surrounded by towers. Architects @fjmtstudio.

Update 2024: the latest streetview shows they’ve demolished the facades on the lane, but wouldn’t be surprised if they just reconstruct them. They seem to be keeping all of the corner shop, which will now be disconnected from the rest of the precinct.

• Uncategorized