The Foundation Stone for the Claremont Municipal Chambers, designed by architect Edwin Summerhayes, was laid in March 1899. In 1935 Reginald Summerhayes, Edwin's son, designed an Art Deco facade for the building. On 18 Nov 2010 much of the Municipal Chambers and Library complex were destroyed by fire. There are reports and photos of the fire on the ABC News and WA Today websites.
My photos were taken circa 2004.
Besides severe damage to the complex many historic photograph and Council records were lost. It looks from the photos that the facade may have survived but it is too early to tell whether it is structurally sound and can be incorporated into a new building, assuming they want to. The records, however, are gone and cannot be replaced.
Thanks to @caritamanas on Twitter for alerting me to this sad story.
References:
Claremont Town Centre Heritage Trail
Claremont fire causes millions of dollars damage, ABC News website
Claremont Council and Library Fire Photo Gallery, WA Today website
Quite a blaze. Anything can be done with buildings, right down to detailed recreation, but nothing can be done about lost photos and records. I should think copies of all would be electronically stored, and if they aren't, then I would say it is neglect.
ReplyDeleteHopefully they do have electronic backups but I'd be surprised if everything going back 110 years has been digitised.
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