Skip to main content

Wisdom leads us back to childhood.


Despite my change of heart, people appear to have given up on 10 Murray. Similarly, even though there has been some belated effort to save her, she's going to be blown up and knocked down.

Thus, it is with a heavy heart that I concede that this week, Theme Thursday has hit the nail on the head. The consensus of the Tasmanian public is that the imposing princess of late-1960s functionalist architecture, 10 Murray Street, is well an truly OVER THE HILL.

They're knocking her down. Judged as an ugly testament to a period people would like to forget, the elite have conspired to concoct a death warrant for this misunderstood beauty and replace her with [and I am not making this up] a giant television screen. No doubt this television screen will continually remind us that we've always been at war with Eastasia.

Tasmanians are addicted to sandstone it seems. For Hobartions, the entire functionalist movement in architecture should be erased from history! The world over; works of Modern architecture are threatened with abuse, ridicule, neglect, thoughtless alterations, or - heaven forbid - total and utter annihilation with nary a care or concern.

Of course, you have no shortage of alert (but not alarmed) citizens nailing themselves to some squalid humpy rotting away in the back ally to preserve its heritage status, but don’t dare suggest that brutalists are people too. No, poor unappreciated beauties like 10 Murray are criticised for being a) OVER THE HILL, and b) not old enough to warrant saving. Talk about a hard task.

What a dull, uninspired world we shall live in when only tasteful little Georgian terraces are allowed to survive and anything else deemed unfit by a small cabal of elitist effeminate aesthetes is bulldozed to make way for their own narrow vision of what is worth preserving and what is not.

Comments

Baino said…
Really? That's awful. She's a grand old thing and hardly an eyesore, unlike a big televisions screen. Hobart will become one of those 'fake' cities like Rothenberg and St Yvoire stuck in a time long forgotten and Disneyish. Shame that.
Kris McCracken said…
Baino, we need a revolution.
Perhaps she will be saved in the final moments, as these things happen sometimes...we are loosing grand buildings all over the world. -J
Brian Miller said…
just what the world needs...a giant television.
Kris McCracken said…
Harnett-Hargrove, I've been endeavouring to get the local paper to refer to it as the "Grand Old Dame", but haven't really got traction... ;)
Kris McCracken said…
Brian, well, the giant television will be in an open public space, but that isn't nearly as inflammatory!
Roddy said…
You of course remember just how easy it is to get anything repaired in a heritage listed building. Oh, where do I get 1890 manufactured glass and plumbing gear. What a nightmare. Ask your mother about renovations, and our place was only built in 1951. An absolute nightmare.
Giant T.V. screen, geeze, we'll look just like Melbourne or Sydney or heaven forbid London, New York, Tokyo etc.
How individualistic.
Kris McCracken said…
Roddy, they want Hobart like Albert Speer's Berlin!
Jaime said…
brilliant advice on how to win a trial...and totally piss off the judge...and probably get myself thrown into jail in the process.

but seriously, thanks for the laugh. i needed it!
Kris McCracken said…
I am sure that I've seen Perry Mason do it, and he NEVER loses...
yamini said…
Lovely overcast sky, though the building looks so so.
Are you still enjoying the rains???
;-)
Kris McCracken said…
Yamini, I went outside to get some fresh air and read my book at lunch today, and it started pouring down so I trudged back inside.
The buildings looks sound and solid. Excellent for offices. I too do not see the reason why it has to be pulled down. No chance to convince the local Government?
Roddy said…
Once we all look alike I think they will be happy. Nothing to complain about, nothing to compare. How boring! Same architect. One payroll!
a giant television screen. i don't get it. don't we leave the house to get away from those! sorry, about your loss = (
jerrypuke said…
I'm a big fan of brutalism. Are you familiar with Clorindo Testa? You might find this link interesting. It is very thorough, but the pictures are far from great.

in Buenos Aires this kind of buildings are safe. It's the stylish european-like houses that are suffering the most, replaced by huge concrete shoeboxes. It's sickening.
Ed & Jeanne said…
I'm constantly amazed at what the few control over the many...
Colette Amelia said…
Holy cow way up here in the frozen north all our buildings look like this!!

shame to blow up a part of the history even if it isn't so snazzy.
Wings1295 said…
"Don't know what you got 'til it's gone..."
Tom said…
In 50 years you won't find anything still standing that was built today. It's all tin foil and cheap molded plastic.
Megan said…
"a small cabal of elitist effeminate aesthetes" - You have hit the nail on the head!!!!
California Girl said…
She looks good in the photo, not awful at all. But, what can you do?
Old buildings are beautiful, complex and have character. What is a giant TV except more of a reason not to think about or explore life?
Anonymous said…
Too bad. Quite a nice looking building, rather. And who needs a bloomin' telly that big? Sheesh!
Kris McCracken said…
Thanks to all for comments. I'm trying hard to catch up!

Popular posts from this blog

If you want to be loved, be lovable.

Henry admires the view.

Zeal, n. A certain nervous disorder afflicting the young and inexperienced. A passion that goeth before a sprawl.

Here I have tried my hand at the homemade sepia-toned photo. I wasn’t happy with the way that the sun had washed out some of the colours in the original, so had a bit of a fiddle because I like the look on Henry’s face, and didn’t want to pass on posting it. I have a tip for those of you burdened with the great, unceasing weight of parenthood. I have a new recipe, in the vein of the quick microwaved chocolate cake . Get this, microwaved potato chips . I gave them a run on Sunday, Henry liked the so much I did it again last night. Tonight, I shall be experimenting with sweet potato. I think that the ground is open for me to exploit opportunities in the swede, turnip, carrot and maybe even explore in the area of pumpkins. Radical, I know. I’m a boundary-pusher by nature. It's pretty simple, take the potato. Slice it thinly (it doesn't have to be too thin, but thin enough). Lay the slices on the microwave plate, whack a bit of salt over the top and nuke the buggers for five minut

Ah, Joe, you never knew the whole of it...

I still have the robot on the job. Here you can see the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery . And here is a poem: Soliloquy for One Dead Bruce Dawe Ah, no, Joe, you never knew the whole of it, the whistling which is only the wind in the chimney's smoking belly, the footsteps on the muddy path that are always somebody else's. I think of your limbs down there, softly becoming mineral, the life of grasses, and the old love of you thrusts the tears up into my eyes, with the family aware and looking everywhere else. Sometimes when summer is over the land, when the heat quickens the deaf timbers, and birds are thick in the plumbs again, my heart sickens, Joe, calling for the water of your voice and the gone agony of your nearness. I try hard to forget, saying: If God wills, it must be so, because of His goodness, because- but the grasshopper memory leaps in the long thicket, knowing no ease. Ah, Joe, you never knew the whole of it... I like Bruce Dawe. He just my be my favourite Austral