The R.H Creighton building
A $49.7 million 16 storey development is currently being advertised with Gosford Council which would see the demolition of a heritage listed property and the erection of mixed commercial, retail and residential development at 27-37 Mann St and 125 Georgiana Terrace, Gosford.
The 1,948sqm development site currently houses the two storey R. H Creighton Funeral Parlour premises which is no longer in use, retail and commercial buildings, ancillary commercial buildings and residential housing. The Creighton’s building has been listed by Gosford Council as an item of local heritage significance but is not listed on the State Heritage Register, the National Heritage List or on the Commonwealth Heritage List and is not located within a heritage conservation area. It is listed in Schedule 5 Environmental Heritage of the Gosford City Centre Local Environment Plan 2014. The Creighton family’s connection with the Gosford district dates back to the early years of settlement in 1843 when the family was mainly involved in the development of the district as wheelwrights. In 1846 Robert Creighton purchased four acres of land in Georgiana Terrace and then a further two acres in 1847. The son and grandson of the original Robert Creighton then took up the undertaking business in the 1880s. The funeral parlour business was located at several addresses around Gosford before moving to 37 Mann St in 1938, the subject site having been purchased on October 24 1935. The development application, which would see the demolition of three buildings, proposes a new residential apartment building containing 127 apartments; retail spaces; a restaurant space; commercial office space; underground and undercover car parking area containing 202 car spaces; lift lobbies and entrances; a heated indoor swimming pool; communal amenities including a landscaped podium roof top recreation terraces and a gym; and new pedestrian forecourt and public precinct landscaping improvements fronting Mann St and Georgiana Terrace. Local historian Ms Kay Williams said the Creighton’s building “is in excellent condition and architecturally and socially one of Gosford’s most significant heritage listed buildings”. “Its loss would of this very significant heritage item, or any interference with its intact fabric, is unthinkable. “The double garage has been the subject of an excellent restoration and adaptive reuse as the Reviver Bar, at the tenant’s expense. “There is no reason why this building should not be retained intact in its entirety on the development site. “Gosford Council is the sole body charged with responsibility for the identification and protection of our heritage,” she said.
DA46209, 26 Aug 2014
Email, 5 Sep 2014
Kay Williams, Pearl Beach