By KATH GANNAWAY
Heritage vandals attack award winning Art Deco listed building…
VANDALS have wreaked what may be irreparable damage on some of the most important heritage features of the Edgewater Resort building in Warburton.
Warburton and Yarra Junction police are investigating the graffiti attack which took place on Tuesday 3 December with the assistance from Crime Scene Investigation Unit officers who the Mail understands have been on-site to gather evidence.
The National Trust and heritage listed building was designed and built for the Sanitarium Health Food Company between 1936 and 1939 and won the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects Street Architecture Award in 1940.
Irreplaceable features including tiles on the Art Deco staircase, etched glass doors, and the distinctive cream external brickwork were covered in graffiti along with expanses of the interior walls.
Glass bricks, another major feature of the building, have been smashed.
This latest attack has shocked Garry Crockett, managing director of The Crockett Group which is now the owner and custodian of a building that is not only unique in Warburton and the Yarra Valley, but is extremely significant at an international level.
Mr Crockett said there had been previous graffiti attacks and that the company had spoken with local police and increased security in an attempt to keep people out of the building, and to stop any further damage.
It is believed the offenders broke a window to gain entry to the building.
Walking through the building last week, Mr Crockett was clearly devastated by the extent of the damage and the possibility, because of the porous nature and age of the materials, much of it may not be able to be restored.
Mr Crockett said it was impossible to put a monetary value on the damage, and what impact it will have on the project which is finally moving into the construction phase.
He said the vandalism has hit everyone who is passionate about the building very hard, including the local tradesmen who have been working for months to restore the windows.
“They say they just can’t fathom it. Every time they pack up and leave it for the night they are paranoid about what they will come back to,” he said.
The other concern is for the safety of people coming into the building which has a high-volume power station operating and a number of areas that could be lethal if someone fell.
Warburton Sergeant Tom Wilkinson said police wanted to hear from anyone with information about who may be responsible for the Edgewater graffiti, and for other graffiti attacks around the same time on the SES building in Wesburn.
“These are serious offences; it’s not only criminal damage, it has impacted on an historical property that is significant to Warburton and to the Yarra Valley and that may be irreparable,” he said.
“This has brought it into the wider community.”
In what amounts to a plea to those responsible for the damage, Mr Crockett told the Mail on Monday he hoped the attacks were through ignorance, rather than malice.
“One would hope if they realised (the heritage of the building), they wouldn’t have done this in first place,” he said.
“You would hope it is largely based on ignorance.”
Anyone with information can contact Warburton police on 5966 2006, Yarra Junction police on 5967 1104 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
