“Heritage Watch” is one of the agenda items at the societies’ monthly committee meeting.
We consider development applications submitted to Marrickville council that affect buildings or structures with heritage significance.
Development Application DA201100072 came to the attention of the society last year. The development application proposed to demolish the building Duncraggan (also known as J Milne House) at 1 Crescent Lane, Newtown in order to provide access and car parking for new units and a cafe being built in Enmore Road.
MHS opposed the application, but RailCorp’s opposition of keeping the facade of the building in Cresent Lane outweighed heritage preservation.
In the end (April 2012) J Milne House was reduced to a pile of rubble and all that exists now are memories.
Lynette Walker in her Milne Family Story reminds us that “it is the only house left from Crescent Street and now the front fence is on the railway line boundary”.
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| Photo J Milne – Duncraggan. , 2003.courtesy of Trove |
Now Crescent Street, and the last standing house are gone. A sad day indeed for the preservation of heritage.
Crescent Street in Enmore skirted the south side of the crescent-shaped rail line from the mid 1850s, but was resumed (ie, compulsorily acquired by the Government) to make way for the increased number of railway tracks. (From A Short History of the Streets of Newtown)
The beginning of the end for Crescent Street …
The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954) 10 Jul 1918: 7. Web. 27 Sep 2012 .
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| Higinbotham & Robinson. Maps of municipalities surrounding the city of Sydney [cartographic material] 1890 – 1899. MAP RaA 40. Part 31. |
Marrickville Heritage Society 