Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Deterioration


This huge house is slowly succumbing to the elements. What I find remarkable about it is that it has been left like this despite it being huge, in a really posh expensive area with the back garden backing onto the river... (This photo was taken from the CityCat)  I'd say that water tank has been there since the floods a year ago. It might not even belong to the house.

Maybe it costs too much to repair but the owner can't knock it down because it is heritage listed? What a great place it must have been once.

10 comments:

Mrs Santa said...

Yes Cara, you are almost certainly right - it can't be knocked down so the owner must wait til it falls down or maybe be condemned by the council - sometimes a little fire can help proceedings along - lit by the homeless of course.
'cos even restored it would be worth far less than a new mansion or block of units or townhouses.
Most people confuse money with value!

Stefan Jansson said...

That is a bit weird. If the owner can't afford to repair it, the property should be on the market if it is in a posh area.

smudgeon said...

Looks like a scene from the Bayou!

Could be that the owner has a desire to fix this up a little, but perhaps heritage listing might be causing issues. It certainly does down here in Tassie

Mrs Santa said...

Yes Cara, you are almost certainly right about heritage listing- it can't be knocked down so the owner must wait til it falls down or maybe be condemned by the council - sometimes a little fire can help proceedings along - lit by the homeless of course.
'cos even restored it would be worth far less than a new mansion or block of units or townhouses.
Most people confuse money with value!

Mozette said...

Out here near Logan, we have a house that went a similar way. It was Hume's House on the corner of Logan and Miles Platting Road. Since I was little, it was falling down and the homeless lived in it all the time. It was heritage-listed and nobody could touch it. Then, one day Castlemaine Perkins did a beer advert in it and painted up one corner of it and - voila! - the Brisbane City Council thought it would be a great idea to fix the rest of the house... now, nobody can use it because of the rates on the land.

Another such place was Glengallan Homestead out on the Darling Downs. It was once a proud place where people visited for the Summer (such as my Great-Aunty Bessy). It fell into disrepair and nobody could touch it as it was Heritage-listed; and yes, some idiot bought it and built his house right where the bakery was... silly man. In the last decade or so, a group of people from Warwick have gotten together and worked on that house and brought it back to its former glory; however there's very few people alive today to tell anyone exactly how life was back then. Pity. And - even though the land and house was bought back off the owner - he won't move for the whole homestead to be fully rebuilt as he built his place over the driveway as well.

Steve Capelin said...

I don't think this one is about greed Cara. From what I understand there may be some mental health issues involved. Sad to see the decay over time. I'll check out some further info for you if you're interested.

Joanna said...

That's really too bad. Look at the beautiful windows on the second floor and the section on the right side.

AL said...

Knowing just how valuable riverside property is, despite the floods, it seems inconceivable that this place should be left to go to ruin. How sad that it isn't loved Cara.

Mrs Santa said...

I'm sorry Little Hat, and others - one should never assume anything! The true story sounds too sensitive and private to take further- doubly sad!

Natalie said...

I live on the other side of the river, and I think this has now been knocked down? Such a shame.

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