Fight to save heritage
ONE of Geelong’s earliest substantial buildings, the Davidson Building in Yarra St, was demolished in 1976. Today most of the site is occupied by the Palace of the Orient Chinese restaurant.
Back in the 1970s, the National Trust had fought hard to retain the historic structure. Then Geelong branch president of the National Trust, C. Smit, said the branch had written to the Historic Buildings Preservation Council as part of its bid to save the building.
Mr Smit said that the trust disagreed with the building’s owner who claimed the building was structurally unsound.
About 1000 people had signed a petition protesting its demolition.
Mr Smit said Geelong was renowned for pulling down old buildings. “Geelong has a poor record in saving its heritage,’’ he said.
“Geelong almost became the capital of Victoria, and the Davidson Building was one that reflected the grandeur of those early days,’’ he said.
In 1976, the Geelong Historical Society said that the Yarra St building was one of the few stone buildings from the 1850s that remained in the city area.
The Geelong Advertiser reported that the last tenant had moved out in the week before demolition commenced.
The Davidson Building had been built in 1854 of honeycomb bluestone with a freestone façade. It was built to serve as shops and residences, but had since been used as a school, a volunteer rifle corps, by trade unions and the GAMA theatre company.
Our main photo shows the building’s frontage to Yarra St. The photo showing the Davidson Building in the background in 1908 was taken from the Market Square clock tower.
The building in front of it, which today is Bridal House, was at the time the Corio Hotel. The former corner bank building to its left remains today behind shops on the street frontage. Contact: peterjohnbegg@gmail.com