Brisbane councillor suggests squatting to save pre-war Highgate Hill home from demolition

A Brisbane councillor has suggested Highgate Hill locals should squat in the pre-1946 home to prevent its demolition.  

Jonathan Sri from the Gabba Ward said the demolition of 161 Dornoch Terrace would mean the loss of a house that added character to the area and compound issues of housing affordability in the bohemian 4101 postcode.

One of the house’s current tenants said moving in was a dream come true for her. She’d spent years eying off the distinctive brick property.

“I just feel like I’d drive past it a lot to get to West End or whatever, I’d always see it and point it out because I’d always liked it,” she said. “And once I’d moved in, people would always tell me the same thing. They’d always know which house I was talking about.”

The tenant requested anonymity after making a public Facebook post because she feared retribution.

Not long after moving in, the tenant, her sister, and housemate have been evicted so the landlord can knock down the home before a council-imposed deadline of November 11.

The demolition is scheduled for October, according to correspondence to the tenants received from their landlord.

“It’s really unfortunate there weren’t enough grounds for historic protection for it,” she said. “[The home’s historic value] is there, it might just be hard to find.”

The tenant said she hoped the council or state government would step in to save the property. 

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“I think if people are passionate about buildings like this people should fight, and they should do what they can to stop this sort of thing,” Cr Sri said. “Sometimes these things are salvageable and worth saving.”

The owner of the property has the legal right to demolish the house, despite it being prewar. Fairfax media understands approval was granted by the Planning and Environment court, overturning a 2011 council decision to block the demolition of the home.

The owner was recently denied an application to extend the demolition approval due to expanded protections in the 2014 city plan for prewar homes that don’t fit into the ‘tin and timber’ niche.  

Domain Group records show 161 Dornoch Terrace and the neighbouring block is owned by a family trust, linked to a prominent local lawyer. A call to his office by Fairfax Media was not returned.

The land was last year listed for sale with an asking price of $3 million. The listing was with Michael Mangelakis from Remax Street, and described the prewar home as ‘dumpy’.

The tenant made a post to the West End Community Association’s Facebook page, appealing to the community to do something to save it. In the post she acknowledged it would be difficult to prevent the demolition.

“I feel like it’s inevitable due to the amount of money invested in the property,” the tenant said. “It’s only a matter of time before they plan to put highrise apartments in its place.”

Her post prompted Cr Sri to make a post of his own, which ended with a suggestion the current tenants or a squatter could delay the commencement of the demolition until the permit expires on November 11.

Cr Sri pointed to activists that successfully stopped the demolition of two buildings in Sussex Street in 1988.

“There’s a precedent for this, residents getting out there and saving these old houses,” he said. The townhouses, which were low cost housing at the time, were to be demolished to make way for buildings intended to be used in Expo ’88.

“This is a pretty affordable share house so if it gets knocked down what happens to the tenants, where do they go? Will they have to move out of the area?” Cr Sri asked. “The hidden story behind the construction boom is that we’re seeing low income people pushed out of the city.

“The conversation about density becomes quite shallow. We’re increasing density but we’re losing adaptable and flexible community spaces.”