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Last month’s article by Jon Johanssen ‘The case of the icon misnomer’ (page 22) generated comment from groups and individuals defending the Lloyd Rees Bandstand's position within the Plaza. The following are the responses received by TVO. In his article, Jon Johannsen misses the point about the National Trust listed Lloyd Rees Bandstand. He infers that it can’t be iconic or a heritage item because it dates from 1983 and asserts that it has received its “iconic label by default”. The Local History section of the Lane Cove Library reveals that Lloyd Rees was involved with planning the original bandstand from 1980, donating money and corresponding with Harry Howard and John Supran (the architects) and with Council about its concept and design. Rees’ inspired view of the bandstand was as a focal point for the Plaza, “a place for public speakers, open air dramatics and concerts, a central gathering place for the people of Lane Cove.” Nearly two generations have played on the Bandstand’s steps and on its stage, and sheltered under its canopy. The adjacent playground area which, like the Bandstand is shaded by sail-cloth, is filled every day by parents who have purchased a coffee and engaged with others, while their children play safely. The Bandstand is a vital part of the fabric of Lane Cove. Our current Council removed its local Heritage listing and with that they took away its statutory protection. It’s a shame an architect like Mr Johannsen can’t tell the difference between a valued local item of cultural and social heritage, and a ‘carbuncle’. June Hefferan, Lane Cove North and Bill Henningham, Riverview
The Lloyd Rees Bandstand, erected in 1983, is yet again under threat following a call for its removal by local architect Jon Johannsen, in an article that tries to undermine its pedigree. Johannsen’s call for its removal is alarming in the extreme. His recommendation appears to arise from his negative opinions about its neglected appearance and his assumption that it will be replaced by something better. To be as confident as Johannsen is that Lloyd Rees would be ‘very supportive’ of having a new ‘iconic gesture’ appears 26 I THE VILLAGE OBSERVER I NO. 262 I MAY 2017
presumptuous. Rather it may signal that once again the public space may be asked to give way to further commercial use of the Plaza that has led to boxy structures and a price to pay for sitting in them. In 2009, the Lloyd Rees Bandstand and its associated Plaza was listed or classified by the National Trust (NSW). Lane Cove Library’s local history collection holds Lloyd Rees’s extensive correspondence and other records that unequivocally attest to his involvement with and his financing of the Bandstand. The independent ‘Dickson Rothschild Heritage Report ('May 2009) also confirmed its significance when it was threatened with demolition. In 2013, a majority vote of the current Councillors ended the Bandstand’s brief period of legal protection when it removed it from its listing as a Heritage item in the Lane Cove Local Environment Plan (LEP). The Bandstand’s enduring success as the absolute ‘heart’ of community in Lane Cove continues its original function as conceived and designed by Harry Howard (1930-2000), a highly awarded, leading modernist Australian landscape architect; and the involvement of Lloyd Rees (18951988) a Northwood local and one of Australia’s most pre-eminent landscape artists, a skilled draughtsman and painter. The most recent renovation of the Bandstand involved comprehensive community consultation and input. It was carefully integrated into the Plaza upgrade, completed under the guidance of architect John Supran (who worked on the original Bandstand construction). The National Trust Statement of Significance cites the Bandstand’s “… historical significance as an integral part of the innovative urban design of this public space, the first suburban plaza to be created through a major road closure”. It is “rare as an early Australian exercise in tensile steel and polyester construction and an unusual, modern version of a traditional community facility.” In his letter proposing the idea to Council, Rees’s insightful suggestion that
the Plaza required “a visual focus… such as a bandstand with a touch of phantasy about it; …. useful for summer shade and for public addresses and music etc” left a legacy, an enduring performance and social space for Lane Cove that is unrivalled. It is with regret that the Lane Cove Bushland & Conservation Society confronts such an assault on a place that makes Lane Cove special. Lane Cove is diminished when such a valued, historically significant sculptural element of ‘Public Art’ for the community is left under-recognised and wilfully unprotected. Concerned residents should urge Councillors to acknowledge its significance and protect it by reinstating it as a Heritage item in the Lane Cove LEP. Margaret Bergomi (President) and Shauna Forrest (Secretary), Lane Cove Bushland & Conservation Society Jon Johanssen says that the Lane Cove Bandstand is more carbuncle than ‘icon’ and should therefore be replaced. I accept that maintenance and acoustics may be problematic, but the Bandstand does seem to have served well enough for several decades. I suggest that any commitment of funds for a replacement structure should be delayed until completion of the Rosenthal Street development, so that the ensemble of civic spaces can be assessed as a whole. Mr Johanssen also advocates a broad definition of the word ‘iconic’ as “important as a symbol”, and insists that a building, a person, and even a gesture can be characterised in this way, in effect as standing for something else. His point seems to be that ‘iconic’ is so loosely used nowadays as to be meaningless for any critical purpose. I agree with this, but would indeed go further and say that this word is a blight on the language. Derived from a Greek word for image, ‘iconic’ has acquired the wider sense so painfully spoofed by Mr Johanssen only in the last few decades, popularized by the architectural critic Charles Jencks. In the world of marketing it might be enough that a product has a strong image. But does every building need an image, reminding us of something other than itself? Does an ‘iconic’ quality trump any conventional criteria of design quality or soundness of construction? Mark Horn
