A new heart in Lidcombe

Hi all,

I'm not usually a big fan of monster housing developments and except for Breakfast Point in Sydney I cant actually think of one that I do like until I was told about Botanica in Lidcome.

This development by Australand is massive and its right in the heart of the old suburb of Lidcombe.  On an area that was originally a hospital - Lidcombe Hospital. This hospital was quite old and spiralling and needed a lot of work to modernise it so the decision was made to close it down in 1999 by the Griener Government.

Of the 200 or so acres of land here most of it will become a nice but fairly generic new housing estate with large parks and ponds etc, with cookie cutter McMansions squeezed into small blocks...

Now this is nice but nothing remarkable....

What makes it a remarkable place is the history.  This land started out as a land grant at some point and was then bought by the government in 1879, then in 1887, the government built four dormitories, a dining hall, kitchen and a two-storey superintendent's residence for a boys' reformatory to teach farming and other useful skills to young offenders. These were built by James Barnet (he built many of Sydney's colonial buildings).  These buildings survived through the area becoming an asylum, a home for aged men and then finally a hospital in 1927.

There are other buildings on the site designed by leading architects of their day such as Walter Liberty Vernon who designed most of the fire stations that are dotted around Sydney.

Now after it was closed down building did start in the late 1990's but this was to build the accommodation for the worlds media during the 2000 Olympic games.  Those houses were sold off as phase one.

But still the most remarkable part is what has been done to all those original buildings. All of them are Heritage Listed and they all had to stay. And they became apart of Botanica called The Gallery

And so here they are

Australand has spent a phenomenal amount of money updating and repairing these buildings and converting them into elegant 1,2,3 and 4 bedroom houses. They look amazing.  I have seen the plans and I can tell you a lot of work has gone into each and every one. Australand architects had to work hand in hand with the heritage council to make sure they got it right. And it appears they have.

This is one development that is worthwhile going to have a look at. It is unbelievable. You would not even know you are in Lidcombe let alone Sydney. I can quite honestly say I didn't think I would ever be gushing over a development in Lidcombe.

The above photos are courtesy of Australand and have been touched up a bit as the day I went out there I didn't have my camera but I will be returning with camera in hand.

 Massive.