Air-raid shelter to go in scaled-back plans lodged for Broadway Hotel
A World War II air-raid shelter at the rear of the fire-ravaged Broadway Hotel would be demolished in a scaled-back redevelopment proposal.
Owner Malcolm Nyst has lodged a new development application with Brisbane City Council to redevelop the 1880s-era hotel.
The Broadway Hotel at Woolloongabba, Brisbane.Credit:Tony Moore
The Broadway Hotel, on the corner of Balaclava Street and Logan Road at Woolloongabba, is on the Queensland Heritage Register.
The proposal allows for the three-storey main hotel to be retained, along with the single-storey wing on Balaclava Street and the two-storey construction on the car park side.
In March, the latter two sections were proposed to be demolished.
However, in amended drawings submitted to the council in July, they would be saved.
The Balaclava Road side of the Broadway Hotel where the proposal is to demolish back from the original brickwork on the right hand side. The air-raid shelter is visible to the left of the photo above.Credit:Tony Moore
Dr Nyst has now applied for a partial demolition permit to allow some of the hotel’s outer buildings, including the air-raid shelter, to be demolished.
He wants to demolish external storage areas on the car park side of the hotel, demolish the two-storey pavilion and the rear pavilion terrace area.
This includes cold rooms, a stage, an overhead sail structure and the concrete air-raid shelter.
Dr Nyst’s team says the air-raid shelter is "structurally unsound" and it is "not feasible to be repaired". They say it should be demolished and access to the area closed off immediately because of the risk of collapse.
The proposed demolition plans for sections of the Broadway Hotel site in Woolloongabba.
Public submissions to the new proposal can be made until September 7.
Local Greens councillor Jonathan Sri believes the air-raid shelter should be retained because it is an "important part of our history".
"My broader concern is that whenever part of a state heritage-listed building is being demolished, the owner should be required to explain what they intend to build there instead," Cr Sri said.
"It's quite unusual for someone to apply to demolish part of a heritage-listed building like this without also including details in the application of what new building they are proposing for the site.
Flames and smoke engulf Woolloongabba's historic Broadway Hotel in 2017.Credit:Matt Hayes
"Are we likely to see a massive high-rise tower proposed for the back of this site where the air-raid shelter is currently located?
"Personally I don't think any partial demolition of this site should be approved without a clear plan of what the owner wants to do with the land."
Numerous enforcement and stop notices have been placed over the site by the state and the council since a September 2018 fire, to preserve its historical status as one of Brisbane's oldest pubs.
Cr Sri said the Queensland government was effectively the decision-maker when the property was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.
Comment was sought from Dr Nyst and the architects, Hayes Anderson Lynch Architects.