A Cautionary Tale.

On a dry, golden summer’s day in the mid-1990s, a man bought a heritage house in the land of New South Wales. He was very happy because he loved all things heritage. Many of his neighbours and friends shared the same sentiments. They did not mind his old, apparently dilapidated and cracked house, odd as it was. The man happily joined into the community’s love of old buildings.

The man spent many years enjoying the property, fixing its cracks, patches and scrapes to his heart’s content. He spent what money he needed to properly fix the house. Luckily, he had the means to do it. He never received any assistance from the Government. It was almost as if the entire project was self-funded. For him and his neighbours, there was a lot of support and many of his friends were like-minded.

Oh, but what joy it bought him! With each little, meticulous touch of magic, the house breathed new life. He made many conversions over the years to modernise the house at the back and leave the original heritage component untouched. His very own time capsule.

Then, a few years later, the legislation changed. A terrible curse it was! It was proclaimed that the nearby Local Business Centre was to be extended, to the point where if the man walked out of his front door, he would be confronted with a most awful sight – face to face with a twelve-storey edifice. The man then became disgruntled and trapped, for there was no escaping the ever-increasing growth around his beloved neighbourhood.

More recently, the Government changed the legislation again. He heard the whispers on the wind, filling his belly with dread. He found himself in the middle of what they called a TOD, the Government’s next bold, grand plan that came to be known as the Transport Oriented Development scheme. Then came the next scheme, known as the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy (LMR). What was he to do? Most of his neighbours that had once been fond of heritage were already talking amongst themselves about amalgamating their sites. They wanted to capitalise on the zoning uplift. Such ideas made the man feel uneasy. When he was asked by several of his neighbours to join them, he told them emphatically no, that he was not interested.

Grimly, the man begun to wonder if it would be sensible to leave, to sell his beautiful heritage home. All his other neighbours excluded him from their negotiations. Now, his money was running low and instead of being proud, he became resentful as his isolation grew. Worse, no one seemed interested in buying his property now that the value had dropped by at least two to three million dollars.

Until one day, the man realised why he had received so very few offers. He could not sell the house because it would not be sold for a decent price due to the legislation change. But the man could not keep it either because of the change to the immediate environment around his house. Uncertain of what else he could do, the man decided to return to his neighbours to see whether he could join their petition to amalgamate their properties after all. Neighbours who had already covered reasonable ground in the State Government approval process.

This is a sad and sorry story of vain hopes in which having bought a heritage house thirty years ago had become too troublesome to bear in the present. Bought at a time when people valued heritage and enjoyed all that the heritage neighbourhood had to offer, the man was now confronted by a completely different environment. An environment of much taller buildings and much denser developments with the consequent erosion of heritage buildings in the area.

He also noted some recent Land and Environment Court decisions in which contributory items in Heritage Conservation Areas were allowed to be demolished under the TOD and LMR schemes. Oh dear!

What choice was he left with? He could not sell his property for a decent price; he could not develop his property due to being isolated; and he could not continue to live in the very home that he loved most – his castle.

Paul Rappoport

Conservation Architect and Heritage Planner

15 July 2025

Image References:

Lewis, Alexander. “The suburb of Haberfield has been declared a heritage conservation area.” ABC News. March 11, 2024. NSW planning changes to boost housing take effect next month but communities are divided – ABC News

Nina. “House in a forest.” Pinterest. August 12, 2017. https://au.pinterest.com/pin/468092954990690979/

Tolj, Brianne. “A 100-year-old home pinned between two new high-rise apartment buildings in Brisbane’s inner-city is on the market for $2.3 million and the owner is eager to sell”. Daily Mail Australia. December 20, 2016. Brisbane house wedged between two high-rise buildings is selling for $2.3m | Daily Mail Online