By Julie Power,Nigel Gladstone
Copyright theage
Smith says he is not anti-development. “We have to have development. I’m not silly or stupid enough to think that we’re going to save every single house,” Smith said.
It is an impossible task to record every home being demolished, nor does anyone think it is warranted. An average of 16,753 dwellings got demolition approval and were rebuilt each year from 2019-20 to 2024-25.
Despite the government’s push for increased density, 58 per cent of knockdown rebuilds nationwide were replaced by another detached single dwelling. In NSW, that figure was 54.8 per cent.
In the late 19th century, the City of Sydney’s City Surveyor took advantage of the camera, then a new technology, to document homes threatened with demolition. This resulted in the Demolition Books, containing 5000 photographs and glass plate negatives – not all the homes were knocked down, some were only threatened.
City historian Laila Ellmoos said from 1879 the council had the power to demolish any ruinous building by issuing the owner a condemnation notice to compel either a repair or demolition.
