Heritage snub for modernist Fairfield pavilion and amphitheatre
The executive director of Heritage Victoria Steven Avery has recommended that a modernist pavilion, kiosk and amphitheatre in Melbourne’s Fairfield Park should not be added to the state heritage register, despited their direct association with award-winning Melbourne architects.
The Northcote Amphitheatre was designed by Maggie Edmond for Northcote City Council in 1985. The 460-seat semi-circular amphitheatre is arranged around 10-metre diameter stage and is designed to meet the surrounding parkland.
A pavilion designed by Paul Couch was built in the late 1980s to support theatrical activities at the park, and included performance change rooms, a theatrical set building workshop, public toilets and public barbecue area on the rooftop, which is shaded by gazebo with cube-shaped light box on top. The pavilion was designed to be covered in greenery and blend into landscape.
In 2019, the City of Yarra announced plans to demolish a significant portion of the pavilion to make way for a larger storage shed, and received nine objections to the plan.
The council’s own heritage advisor recommended against the partial demolish, but the council ignored that advice, promoting a petition from architecture practice Kennedy Nolan.
University of Melbourne chair of architecture professor Philip Goad made a submission to the council in which he described the pavilion as a “rare, non-residential work by the highly regarded Paul Couch [and an example of his] long-held interest in tilt-slab precast concrete panel construction system that is often a defining feature of his better-known residential works.”
“Couch has been a pioneer in using tilt-slab concrete panels in small-scale settings,” he said.
“In my opinion there is definitely a case for, at the very least, listing the pavilion structure and workshop/change rooms together with the bluestone amphitheatre as being of local heritage.”
Heritage Victoria’s executive director noted that “The Fairfield Pavilion exemplifies Couch’s preferred style of tilt-slab concrete construction used to great effect in
small-scale settings,” however, he dismissed the significance of the architect.
“Couch’s contribution cannot be said to be strong or influential, or of the order of other architects and firms recognised under Criterion H such as Harry Seidler, Robin Boyd, Peter Macintyre, and Edmond and Corrigan.”
He also dismissed the significance of the amphitheatre in relation to the life work of Maggie Edmond. “Although the amphitheatre is Maggie Edmond’s favourite work, it represents an unusual mid-career community commission, rather than demonstrating an architecturally notable point in her design oeuvre and contribution to the discipline.”
The executive director’s recommendation has been published on the Heritage Council of Victoria’s website and submissions can be made to the council until 21 June.
written by : ArchitectureAU Editorial
7 Mar 2021
published in : architectureau.com
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