• Culture
• Future

Save Marcus Clark Heritage

RE: Demolition of Historical Fabric at 711 Hunter Street, Newcastle West 2302

Application Number: DA 2025/01348 , DA 2025/00576

Property Address: 711 Hunter Street, Newcastle West 2302

Letter to Newcastle City Council,

We are writing to express serious concern regarding the imminent demolition of the historic building at 711 Hunter Street, Newcastle West, and to request that Council urgently consider whether an Interim Heritage Order (IHO) should be made over the remaining historic building fabric.

DA2025/01348, submitted by Hunter Street Properties NSW Pty Ltd As Trustee for 711 Hunter Street Unit Trust on 28 November 2025, proposes “Shop top housing – demolition of ground floor and construction of commercial premises with ground floor retail and shop top housing, including 1 into 3 lot stratum subdivision”.

Forming part of the assessment of the site, a Historical Archaeological Assessment was undertaken by Archaeological Management and Consulting Group (AMAC) in December 2024. The assessment provides a detailed historical account of the site and its development, including the former Marcus Clark & Co building. Critically, however, the report excludes an assessment of the current structures on the site, as outlined on page 12 – “The built heritage value of the structures currently standing on the study site is not assessed as part of this report.”

We acknowledge that the archaeological assessment does discuss the existing building, including its historical development and subsequent alterations. It’s assessment of the site is fundamentally undertaken from an archaeological perspective, with the focus being on subsurface archaeological potential and deposits. The heritage significance of the surviving building as a piece of heritage fabric does not appear to have been separately assessed.

This raises a fundamental question: why is the surviving building fabric at 711 Hunter Street not considered to be of local heritage significance?

711 Hunter Street sits within the Newcastle City Centre Heritage Conservation Area, as outlined by the Newcastle City Council Local Environmental Plan (LEP) 2012, and forms part of an important historic group of buildings within the Hunter Street streetscape.

The building fronting both Hunter Street and National Park Street was formerly the Marcus Clark & Co building and was constructed between 1897 and 1900, based on historic plans and photographs of the site. Marcus Clark & Co was an important part of Newcastle’s early commercial history and the building formed part of the early built fabric of Hunter Street.

The building has undergone significant alteration throughout its history, particularly following the occupation of the building by Waltons Ltd from 1966 through to the 1980s. Most notably, the façade was subsequently hidden behind steel cladding, with significant portions of the earlier architectural expression removed or altered, including the clock tower at the corner of Hunter Street and National Park Street and decorative ornamentation along the parapet.

These changes are evident when comparing the historical photographs contained within the archaeological assessment with photographs of the building following its alteration and cladding.

Importantly, photographs taken in 2026 following the removal of the steel cladding as part of the current demolition works have revealed the underlying historical building fabric. The building that is now being demolished is therefore materially different in its architectural presentation from the building that has been visible from the public realm for several decades.

The importance of this issue is further demonstrated by the surrounding heritage context.

The below image, taken from the NSW Planning Portal Spatial Viewer, identifies the Newcastle City Centre Heritage Conservation Ara and the locally significant buildings within the immediate vicinity of the subject site.

Within the same intersection of Hunter Street and National Park Street/Bellevue Street are two buildings recognised as being of local heritage significance:
– 744 Hunter Street – ‘Bank Corner’; and

– 738 Hunter Street – the former ‘Bellevue Hotel’

Both buildings sit immediately within the same historic streetscape as 711 Hunter Street.

This raises the question of why the former Marcus Clark & Co building at 711 Hunter Street is not similarly recognised as being of local heritage significance, particularly given its documented construction in the late nineteenth / early twentieth century, its association with the commercial development of Newcastle, its position within the Newcastle City Centre Heritage Conservation Area, and its relationship to other locally significant buildings within the immediate streetscape.

We are particularly concerned that the heritage significance of the surviving building fabric has not been adequately established prior to its irreversible demolition.

The historical archaeological assessment prepared for the site is not a built heritage assessment. Indeed, the report expressly excludes the built heritage value of the structures from its assessment. While the report considers the historical development of the building, the significance of the surviving fabric has not, to my understanding, been assessed as a potential local heritage item in its own right.

This is particularly significant given that the building’s historic architectural character has been concealed behind later twentieth-century alterations and steel cladding for many decades. This cladding has masked its contribution to the heritage streetscape from the public eye and ultimately allowed the building to be overlooked as a potential locally significant heritage item. The removal of this cladding has now revealed the surviving historic building at precisely the point at which it is facing permanent demolition, underscoring the urgency of this request.

The circumstances therefore raise a broader question about whether the heritage significance of a historic building can be adequately understood where its historic architectural fabric has subsequently been concealed or substantially altered.

There are only a finite number of historic buildings remaining within Newcastle’s city centre. Once this fabric is demolished, it cannot be recovered. The loss of the building would therefore represent a permanent loss to the historic character and architectural record of Newcastle.

We are not opposed to the redevelopment of 711 Hunter Street, nor to the principle of the proposed mixed-use development. I do, however, believe that the redevelopment should be reconsidered in light of the historic fabric that remains on the site.

There is an important opportunity to retain and incorporate the historic façade, or other significant surviving historic fabric, into the proposed development. The retention of heritage fabric does present additional construction and design challenges and costs; however, these should be considered against the permanent loss of an important piece of Newcastle’s architectural history.

There are numerous examples where significant historic buildings and elements have been successfully incorporated into substantial contemporary developments. The Dairy Farmers Corner development by Thirdi Group & CKDS Architecture at 924 Hunter Street Newcastle West demonstrates that significant historic elements can be retained and incorporated into contemporary development at a substantial scale. Similarly, The Surry Hills Village / Wunderlich Lane development in Sydney by DOMA & SJB + Studio Prineas provides another example, where historic fabric has been retained and integrated into a substantial mixed-use redevelopment. There are countless other examples.

These examples demonstrate that heritage retention and substantial redevelopment are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Given the above, I respectfully request that Newcastle City Council urgently:

1. Consider whether an Interim Heritage Order should be made over the remaining historic building fabric at 711 Hunter Street, given the immediate threat of irreversible demolition;
2. Undertake or commission an independent built heritage assessment of the surviving historic building fabric, including consideration of its significance against the NSW heritage assessment criteria;
3. Reconsider whether the former Marcus Clark & Co building warrants recognition as a locally significant heritage item, particularly in the context of the Newcastle City Centre Heritage Conservation Area and the surrounding locally significant buildings;
4. Take all available steps to prevent further irreversible loss of potentially significant historic fabric while this matter is considered; and
5. Investigate the retention and adaptive incorporation of the historic Hunter Street façade and/or other significant surviving fabric into the proposed redevelopment.
6. Outline a strategy to reinstate the heritage detailing and features to the Hunter Street and National Park Street facades. 

We also note that there are ongoing modification processes associated with the development approvals for the site. Given that the planning framework for the development continues to be subject to consideration and modification, I believe there remains an opportunity to consider the retention of the historic building fabric as part of the future development outcome.

The current demolition provides a very limited window in which this issue can be properly considered. Once the remaining historic fabric is demolished, the opportunity to assess, retain and incorporate it into the future development will be permanently lost.

We therefore respectfully request that Council urgently consider the heritage significance of the surviving building and whether an Interim Heritage Order or other appropriate heritage protection mechanism should be put in place before further demolition occurs.