A renewed push to protect Lilydale’s “cornerstone of the community” from further disrepair and dilapidation has been touted again due to increasing safety fears.
Concerns for Lilydale’s famed White Dog Hotel, also known as Duke’s Saloon and formerly Lilydale Hotel, have reverberated through the community for more than a decade.
The current crumbling state of the building’s front verandah has reignited calls for Yarra Ranges Council to enact make-safe works to ensure the structural integrity of the heritage-listed facade.
Friends of The White Dog Facebook group founder Rob Hall made a submission at the 22 July council meeting requesting action to fix the facade or fine the owner for neglect.
“The White Dog is 160 years old and needs our help. So far, the heritage overlay protection isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on and continues to make a mockery of our local heritage laws,” he said.
The original iteration of the White Dog was built in 1862, expanding from a single storey to double after several years, and then requiring refurbishment following a fire in 1902.
For 70 years, the Connelly-Bramich family owned and operated the hotel, where it affectionately received its name, the White Dog, because of a burly bull mastiff brought in to guard its owner, Joanna Connelly, during the height of the Silvan Dam construction in the 1920s.
Questioning the council on its ability to double the fines for damage to heritage properties and whether fines in general have been enforced, Mr Hall’s returned response from Amanda Kern stated that “council officers cannot discuss or disclose individual cases and actions that have been taken”.
“I ask, would any other buildings in the Main Street Lilydale be allowed to let fall into such disrepair without repercussions. If not, then why not?” Mr Hall said.
“It’s because the White Dog’s doors are currently closed, but the owner gets a reprieve.”
Examples like Bell’s Plumbing in South Australia, which “was gutted by suspicious fire,” resulted in the “landmark case against the owner who was charged and found guilty of neglecting a heritage-listed building,” and the Corkman Pub in Carlton, which was illegally demolished in 2016, seeing the developers fined over $1 million, jailed for a month and having to pay legal costs.
“Thankfully, in this case, the White Dog is still standing,” Mr Hall said.
But the state of the heritage facade has been called “a hazard” by two long-time Lilydale residents, who are now in their seventies and eighties and can’t believe the site has been allowed to decay as it has.
“It’s dangerous…It looks like it’s going to fall down,” they said.
“The concrete is breaking apart. The steel is all rusty. And we said to the council, either get it demolished or get the owner to put a barricade around it for safety reasons.
“If it was laying out in the middle of nowhere, even then it should still be looked at but to be in the centre of Lilydale, an eyesore and people walking past it, and no one cares how Lilydale looks?”
Lilydale CFA has long held concerns for the White Dog as well, running crucial pre-fire planning exercises in case of fire, a growing possibility according to captain Warren Davis.
“Kids, they’re treating (the White Dog) now like it’s a haunted house, breaking into it constantly and our concern is that someone’s going to set fire to it,” he told Star Mail in March.
Councillor Tim Heenan said, unfortunately, heritage laws and trusts “in some ways, are a toothless tiger” and “local government…can only do so much”.
“We have had conversations with the owner many times. We’ve tried to engage on many different levels over many different years, and we’ve had to go in there and take care of some of the security arrangements,” he said.
“We continue to be disappointed, though I must confess that I believe our patience is running really thin now because of the current state of the front facade and the fact that Yarra Ranges Council might have to take on board its responsibility for the public health and safety of people walking along that footpath.
“It breaks my heart to know that a building built in 1862 is not sitting there in its former glory, or at least in some part looked after till it gets back to that.”
The council put forward an updated statement of significance for the White Dog Hotel in 2022 as part of a raft of heritage overlay amendments.
Although unable to change current heritage protections, it sought to amend the outdated statement and make suggestions on conservation measures like the restoration or replacement of original elements of the building.
Approval for the amendment was granted by the planning minister and came into effect on 5 June this year, the date the notice was published in the Victorian Government Gazette.
Local law provides Yarra Ranges Council with two avenues to enforce private owners to act on dilapidated buildings or neglect of buildings, as confirmed in 2022 after a community question.
The first of those being the use of a building emergency order “when there are life, health or safety issues such as structural concerns or where the building is being accessed or occupied by squatters or rough sleepers.”
Under this, the council can evict the occupants and instruct the owner to complete ‘make safe’ works.
The second option would be to issue a ‘notice of comply’ under the Yarra Ranges Neighbourhood Amenity Local Law 2020, sections 12.6 unsightly land and 12.7 dilapidated buildings.
If owners do not comply with the notice given, financial penalties can apply.
“Council officers are actively trying to engage to see whether or not there is the willingness to, at least, have a conversation with regards to the future opportunities to protect the building,” planning and building manager Amanda Kern said.
“We are certainly monitoring it closely with regards to the current state of that facade and we do have the ability, while that facade is showing signs of some decay, to at least make safe that front verandah area, and will pursue it and make those approaches with fairly determined activity to make sure at least that make safe work is completed through our building act responsibilities.”
To read a full history of the White Dog Hotel and understand the push for protection, read Star Mail’s articles here: lilydale.mailcommunity.com.au/news/2021/06/08/see-you-at-the-white-dog/ and here: lilydale.mailcommunity.com.au/news/2021/06/16/whats-to-become-of-the-white-dog/
