By XAVIER SMERDON
WYNDHAM’S history lovers have been delivered the worst kind of Christmas present with one of the area’s oldest houses finally meeting the wrecking ball.
About a week before Christmas the house at the rear of the old Davis property, which has held pride of place on Watton St in Werribee since 1903, was knocked down.
On 27 December the rear section of the main house was also torn down.
Lisa Heinrichs and Bill Strong from Wyndham Heritage Recovery said they were devastated to see the house reduced to rubble.
“I felt let down more than anything,” Ms Heinrichs said.
“We knew it was inevitable but we thought that there was a glimmer of hope.”
The group was given a day to remove any items from the house that they wanted to save and have been given a deadline of 28 February to remove the old hardware store, which was the first building on the site.
A property in Little River will be used to store the building temporarily if it is possible to move it.
Ms Heinrichs said while she knew the building would be torn down eventually because of its poor state, it should never have been allowed to fall into disrepair.
“It should have been maintained,” she said.
“The council’s heritage overlay needs to be worth more than the paper it’s written on.
“This would never have happened in Williamstown.”
Mr Strong said as far as Wyndham’s heritage was concerned 2013 could not have started in a worse fashion.
