Warren Fortune
AN AMENDED plan newly submitted to develop the historic Martin Melck House that is part of the 18th Lutheran Church complex in the city centre has been met with stern opposition from the very descendants of the person who conceived the 18th-century structures.
Julian Melck, an eighth generation family member of the complex’s founder, Martin Melck, said his family wanted the city’s appeals committee to reject a developer’s plan to build an office block and parking lot on the warehouse.
“The complex is of historical significance to both our family and our city, and if part of it will be destroyed for the new development it will not be good. (It) will not be a pretty site, and you’ve got to stop somewhere,” Melck said.
“We are doing it for our direct ancestor of eight generations as well, so it is important to maintain the church and its structures the way it is.”
The family said the warehouse shared a cultural and spiritual significance with the church, the first of the Lutheran churches in South Africa.
“It is part of who we are as a country and I want you to share your history with me, and I want to share my history with you.
“This building belongs to everyone now.”
This is not the first time developers wanted to build an office building on the historical site. In November last year, the city refused to sanction a plan by the developers, the Gera Investment Trust.
It was argued then that the alterations would rationalise and improve the building.
The Melck family said this new plan was a clear indication of how intense are “development pressures in the city and on its heritage”.
Johan van der Merwe, mayoral committee member for energy, environmental and spatial planning, said the new application was still in the early stages of review.
“The application is still in process. The city can only confirm if objections have been received on the conclusion of the public participation and advertising stage of the application,” he said.
The Melck family said that if plans for construction went ahead, they would consider other forms of recourse.
The owners of the property, Casey and Mike Augoustides, came up with an amended development proposal for an office and parking block that is one storey lower than the previous application.
The new proposal is for a “tight, taut, hi-tech modern box” on top of the old warehouse
The previous application, for a four-storey office and parking block to be built on the roof of the warehouse, was applauded by some Capetonians, but was vehemently opposed by others. After an approval process that took many years, the application was finally turned down by the city’s planning appeals committee late last year.
The new draft proposal was submitted to Heritage Western Cape in October to establish whether it was “substantially in accordance” with the proposal Heritage Western Cape had approved in 2010. They agreed it was.