Press - 2008
The WEST AUSTRALIAN 16 Dec 2008
Heritage fight may have cost State $20m
BY ALANA BUCKLEY-CARR
Millionaire prospector Mark Creasy could have set a legal precedent by invoking a never used clause which would have forced the State Government to buy his derelict heritage-listed house for as much as $20 million.
Mr Creasy’s fight to demolish The Cliffe in Peppermint Grove could have seen the clause used for the first time since the Heritage Act became law in 1990.
But because the 1894-built house was removed from the State’s heritage register last year, the threat of a landmark legal battle was averted.
Mr Creasy said last night that he was now free to do with his property as he saw fit.
He has been fighting to move or demolish the house since his family bought it in 1995 so he could build a new mansion on the prime block.
“We are exploring possibilities on the future of The Cliffe,” Mr Creasy said.
“I remain puzzled as to why there is this sudden problem with moving the house.”
The Shire of Peppermint Grove has approved Mr Creasy’s demolition application but he said he was waiting to be presented with options on how the building could be saved.
Heritage Minister John Castrilli said yesterday he had no plans to change the clause despite the implications and had not asked the Heritage Council to prepare a proposed amendment to the Act.
In 2006, Mr Creasy threatened to invoke the clause, which could have forced the Heritage Council to buy the property for its market value of about $20 million.
But Mr Castrilli said yesterday that because the clause had never been invoked previously, “the question of how an agreed price can be arrived at has never arisen”.
If Mr Creasy had invoked the clause, under section 76 of the Heritage Act, he would have had to prove that the land had become incapable of “reasonably beneficial use”, a legal term which would have been explored in the courts.
“The Heritage Council maintains that a property’s entry on the heritage list does not make it, or any future development, incapable of reasonably beneficial use,” Mr Castrilli said.
“The Heritage Council had previously supported a development proposal by The Cliffe’s owners to extend the building, in effect doubling its size.”
The Heritage Council yesterday referred questions to the Minister.
The WEST AUSTRALIAN 15 Dec 2008
House off heritage register ‘to save costs’
BY DANIEL HATCH
Millionaire prospector Mark Creasy’s Peppermint Grove house The Cliffe was removed from the State’s heritage register against strongly worded advice from the Heritage Council that the century-old home should be preserved.
The report, kept under wraps by former heritage minister Michelle Roberts, was released by her Barnett Government successor John Castrilli after questions in Parliament.
Greens MLC Giz Watson had asked whether the advice existed and whether a potential multi-milliondollar lawsuit from Mr Creasy was a factor in the delisting.
The report indicates the Government received advice from the State Solicitor’s Office late last year to remove the property from the register to avoid “undefined costs to the State”. In 2006, Mr Creasy threatened to enforce a little-known clause in heritage legislation that would force the Heritage Council to buy the property for its market value of about $20 million.
The report included advice that delisting, which was supported by Colin Barnett, would set “a dangerous precedent and signal to owners that all they have to do is follow the legal path (Mr Creasy) followed to be removed from the register”.
“This scenario would concern the broader community and possibly see a vocal campaign against such actions and any Government that allowed it to happen,” it said.
The report has been seized upon by heritage enthusiasts including Fremantle deputy mayor John Dowson, who said it revealed “a shocking attitude towards heritage and due process from both major political parties”.
“People were scared if they didn’t undo the listing the Government would be liable for all this money. They didn’t want the Government to have to fork out $20 million,” he said.
Mr Creasy previously offered to move the 1894-built Bindaring Parade house to nearby Manners Hill Park for use as a museum or function centre and the Shire of Peppermint Grove has formed a committee to find a way to save it.
National Trust executive director Tom Perrigo said attention should be focused on how to save The Cliffe in its present location.
Mr Perrigo said it would cost about $500,000 to move the building or about $2 million to compensate Mr Creasy for the loss in value on the property from a heritage listing.
The POST Newspaper 13 Dec 2008
Pro-Cliffe report was buried
BY ROMY RANALLI
A secret report that opposed the removal of the heritage listing on the Cliffe property in Peppermint Grove was buried by the Carpenter government.
The report by the Heritage Council disputes the reasons put forward publicly by the government, including that it could be forced to buy the property or compensate the owners, prospector Mark Creasy and his wife Sharon.
The Heritage Council’s report was released this week in response to a question in Parliament from Greens member Giz Watson.
Ms Watson said Parliament should not have been kept in the dark.
“The Heritage Council’s advice could well have swayed Members to vote against the delisting,” she said.
Earlier this year both main parties voted to remove the heritage listing on the historic house, built in 1894 to showcase WA timber. The vote opened the way for demolition.
The Heritage Council report argues against secret legal advice from the State Solicitor’s Office to then Heritage Minister Michelle Roberts.
National Trust CEO Tom Perrigo said that despite what was said in Parliament by both parties about the heritage value of the Cliffe, the decision was based solely on the opinion of the State Solicitor’s Office.
This was a belief that if the listing was not removed, court action by the Creasys could force the government to buy the property, said to be worth $20 million.
Mr Perrigo said: “There was no question of its significance as a a heritage property.”
The report by the Heritage Council, another state government department, said there was grave doubt about the State Solicitor’s Office findings. It said the present condition of the house was irrelevant to the listing. In any case it disputed the cost estimates put forward to restore the house.
The council mounted its strongest attack on the veracity of the legal advice that led to the house being the first property to be struck off the state’s Register of Heritage Places. They said the term “reasonable and beneficial use” was part of an ambiguous phrase in section 76 of the Heritage Act that the legal advice from the State Solicitor’s Office hung on.
The Heritage Council recommended that the law be urgently clarified to remove this ambiguity.
It disagreed with the State Solicitor’s Office claim that the “SAT (State Administrative Tribunal) would find there is no reasonable and beneficial use for the property based on a cost estimate proposed by a builder”.
The council said: “These estimates are not supported by conservation architects, as the work required is not defined and therefore the estimate is baseless and should not be relied on for making decisions in relation to this matter.
“The proper interpretation of reasonably beneficial use does not seem to have been decided by an Australian court in the context of a heritage or planning regulation by which a landowner claims to have been deprived of the use of their land.
“Counsel for the owner appears to argue that Section 76 of the HWA Act requires the state to purchase the property because, in their view, entry of the Places of Register has precluded any reasonably beneficial use.”
The Heritage Council’s advice to the minister reveals several uses had been thrown around, including:
- Council support for several of the Creasys’ options for the site, including a partial demolition of the Cliffe;
- In 2005 Mr Creasy asked the Heritage Council to relocate the Cliffe so he could build two 10-storey tower blocks.
- In 1996 Peppermint Grove councilor Peter Bacich met the Heritage Council director to discuss a develppment proposal for the site.
The council said the reasonable and beneficial use had been tested in other Commonwealth jurisdictions, notably
Canada. “There, the rule appears to be that where the value of the land is diminished the owner can seek compensation if it is available by statute but otherwise no such compensation is payable,” the report said.
The report said Section 76 did not suggest providing or determining the appropriate value of compensation.
“Rather it requires a finding that no reasonably beneficial use remains for the place,” it said.
The report urged the minister to meet Mr Creasy and discuss subdivision options for the large parcel of land surrounding the property. The Heritage Council told the then minister that heritage arguments to remove the building from the Register of Heritage Places did not stand up.
It found:
- Its current dilapidated condition did not alter the cultural significance of the place;
- There was scope for further subdivision of the land to be explored;
- Its lack of public utility was not a sustainable argument; and
- It was not beyond reasonable repair as properties in worse condition had been restored.
The council said the argument of the State Solicitor’s Office undermined and put WA’s entire Heritage Act under threat.
“It is now clear that not only the current operation of the Act is under threat but the exposure of the state to further similar actions is real and extensive in terms of compensation claims or the undermining of the register,” it said.
“Serious consideration needs to be considered to amending the Act to remove the clauses that expose the state to these undermining claims.”
The council said the Cliffe had its quality period detailing intact and was “one of the first houses built in Peppermint Grove and a rare example of the use of weatherboard in a substantial gentleman’s residence in Perth which has, intact, the subsidiary buildings of coachhouse, stables, summerhouse, servants’ cottages and part of the original gardens.”
The POST Newspaper 13 Dec 2008 - Letters
‘Shocking attitude’ revealed
John Dowson
Deputy Mayor, Fremantle Council
Confidential Heritage Council documents released last week in Parliament regarding The Cliffe reveal a shocking attitude towards heritage and due process from both major political parties.
The documents reveal that former Heritage Minister Michelle Roberts took the property off the Heritage Register despite her own Heritage Council telling her not to.
Ms Roberts stated to Parliament that the property was derelict and decaying, with virtually no heritage value.
This contrasts with award-winning architect Marcus Collin’s assessment of it as being one of the most outstanding, exceptional residential properties he had seen.
“It’s an essential part of the architectural history of the state,” he said. “It’s absolutely beautiful.”
Owner Mark Creasy, one of the largest donors to the Liberal Party, got Colin Barnett to support his efforts to have the house delisted. The confidential documents reveal that Mr Creasy wanted to get rid of the famous timber home and build two 10-storey apartment blocks in its place.
That should alarm all the good citizens of Peppermint Grove, even those who don’t value heritage.
Then there is the issue of the 1962 covenant which allows only a single dwelling on the site and the desperate efforts to get rid of that restriction.
The tabled documents also reveal that developer and former Liberal Party campaign director Peter Bacich, who still refuses to resign from Peppermint Grove Council despite community demands, had a private meeting at the Cliffe with the director of the Heritage Council “to discuss his development proposal for the site”.
This raises the question of conflict of interest and is even more reason for Mr Bacich not to be involved in any council affairs, particularly relating to the new committee just set up to look at possible options for the Cliffe.
Any notion to move the Cliffe, or parts of it, shows an immature understanding of the significance of location and context in the values of a heritage property.
Mr Creasy should sell the Cliffe and move on. He can build his 10-storey tower blocks somewhere else.
He will make a great deal of money over and above the $2.65 million he paid, despite the neglect and disdain he has shown one of Australia’s great timber homes.
DRUM Media 5 Dec 2008
Cliffe hangar
BY MATTHEW HOGAN
The fight for the historic Peppermint Grove jarrah mansion to stay standing (where The Triffids brothers Dave and Robert McComb grew up) has reached boiling point after being removed from the Heritage List.
There’s only one house in WA that has ever been taken off the heritage list and that house is in Peppermint Grove and was home to three of Perth’s most prominent families since being built in 1894. The Cliffe at 25 Bindaring Parade was home to Neil McNeil originally and his ownership of the Jarrahdale Timber Company is an obvious reason why it in one of the rare houses in the Perth metropolitan area to be made predominately out of jarrah. McNeil also constructed the Bunbury to Jarrahdale railway line (forerunner of the current Australind railway line), owned one of the first cars in the state and was one of the first dabblers of the then (and still) socially risky real estate on Roe Street in Northbridge – so we have him to blame for this Metro City debacle.
After the prominent industrialist Brisbane family lived in the house for several decades, Dr Harold McComb, one of the first plastic surgeons in the city moved into the house with his wife, renowned geneticist, Dr Athel Hockey in the early ‘60s. The two doctors put their medical training into practise and had four sons, two of which – David and Robert, went on to form legendary Perth band The Triffids.
After being heritage listed in 1984, the house was sold to prospector Mark Creasy for $2,7 million in 1995 and has been vacant ever since. The remaining members of The Triffids, who have recently sold out three shows at the Perth Festival in February, are fighting the good fight to keep the house standing. “I don’t [know] if it’s such a masterpiece architecturally, but what the significance of that house is that it was built as a display home for the use of jarrah timber by a timber merchant, so it’s the biggest jarrah house ever built,” informs Jill Birt, keyboardist of The Triffids and also a qualified architect.
She says the house should remain standing because of its cultural importance to our state. “Throw into the pot the fact that Dave happened to live there and he has been writing there since he was old enough to write,” Birt says. “Certainly in his late primary school years and his high school years and the years when The Triffids started forming he wrote a lot of short stories, poetry and obviously songs and the house is so clearly the backdrop to this material. Even in the later songs it’s there and it’s remembered in that respect.”
The band’s pedal steeliest ‘Evil’ Graham Lee recalls staying at the Cliffe during his first trip to Perth: “The first time I went to Perth to play in the band, I would have stayed there. Dave would be set up in the granny flat and that’s where a lot of songs were written and a lot of birthday parties were held,” says Lee. “And that was Dave’s retreat. The Triffids as teenagers rehearsed in the basement. There’s a very early photograph of everyone sitting around in the kitchen that that’s how the kitchen was when I saw it too. It was a beautiful place.”
Birt expressed distain for the WA’s tendency to forget about culture and heritage. She refers to 2006, when the band first reformed since Dave McComb’s death in 1999, to play in Belgium. “When we went to Europe, we were invited to London for the unveiling of a plaque. The council of Camden had put a plaque on a building with the Triffids name on it – on the building where we recorded our album Born Sandy Devotional. That building back when we recorded that album was in quite a derelict part of town. This council in the year 2006 put a plaque up on a building where we recorded, so I find it kind of odd that Peppermint Grove council now doesn’t think the very house where the band started out is [not] worth saving.
‘Evil Graham Lee has put out up an online petition to save the Cliffe at savethecliffe.info and The Triffids will play the Becks Music Box on the Esplanade, Perth from Friday 20 February until Sunday 22 (sold-out)
POST Newspapers 15 November 2008
Creasy Open to saving the Cliffe
It might not be over for the historic Cliffe property.
Owner Mark Creasy showed heritage experts and Peppermint Grove councillors around the 114-year-old property last weekend.
He said he was not in a rush to demolish the rare jarrah homestead.
"Let's have a think about what could be done, anything is possible," said Mr Creasy, whose 13-year battle to demolish the property ended in June when its heritage protection status was removed by the Carpenter government.
Mr Creasy said he was yet to receive a demolition licence which had been approved by Peppermint Grove council last month.
He said he would wait to hear all proposals before making a decision.
"We canvassed various options, including someone purchasing the property and the area of land from me at a fair market value," he said.
"Or if a suitably qualified group like the National Trust wanted to take the building away I would be happy to consider that."
National Trust CEO Tom Perrigo was among those who visited the property.
He said restoring and keeping the Cliffe at its original location had not been ruled out.
"We have a lot of ideas but I don't want to raise community perception that we can do it," he said.
"I'm not in favour of relocation because the value is not just the building, but first we need to try to save it."
The Heritage Council has kept confidential their advice to former Heritage Minister Michelle Roberts on the delisting of the property.
Mr Perrigo said the advice did not matter.
He said the government was forced to remove the Cliffe from the State Heritage Register because it could not risk a legal challenge by Mr Creasy over an ambiguous part of the State Heritage Act that could be interpreted to force the government to buy heritage-listed properties.
"There was no question of its significance as a heritage property," he said. "Now the challenge for the National Trust is to see if we can save it."
He said the laws needed strengthening and he had a positive meeting with new Heritage Minister John Castrilli this week.
The AUSTRALIAN 24 Oct 2008 - Letters
Expedient, wrong-headed
Bleddyn Butcher
Redfern, NSW
THE idea that heritage value is something you can bolt and unbolt like Meccano is worthy of Dr Frankenstein ("Last-ditch bid to save historic home”, 22/10). The Cliffe’s cultural significance derives from its position and history as well as its remarkable weatherboard design. Demolishing it, carting bits of it elsewhere and sticking them back together is a ghastly prospect but a very effective red herring. This magnificent house should be preserved in situ. The decision to remove it from the Heritage Register was expedient and wrong-headed and probably contrary to Heritage Council advice. If not, why has that advice been suppressed?
The AUSTRALIAN 22 Oct 2008 Last-ditch bid to save Peppermint Grove mansion DEMOLITION has finally been approved for Perth's rare and historic jarrah mansion The Cliffe, birthplace of pop-rock group The Triffids. But Peppermint Grove Council has made a last-minute bid to have the former gentlemen's residence restored and moved before the wreckers arrive. The WEST AUSTRALIAN 22 Oct 2008 Council gets a year to save historic home BY DAN HATCH Peppermint Grove Council has given millionaire prospector Mark Creasy planning approval to demolish the historic 1894-built The Cliffe homestead while vowing to “explore every possible opportunity” to save it. Chief executive Graeme Simpson said Mr Creasy, who bought the Peppermint Grove house 13 years ago with a view to building a family mansion on the site, had told the council it had about a year to find a way to relocate the formerly heritage-listed home before the bulldozers moved in. He had previously suggested he was willing for the building to be removed and rebuilt on nearby Manners Hill Park for use as a museum or function centre. Mr Simpson said councillors and representatives from the National Trust would take a tour of The Cliffe in early November to determine the best course of action. He said councillors had to judge whether relocation was in the best interest of ratepayers, who would have to “carry the burden” of the relocation cost. Mr Simpson said the timeframe given by Mr Creasy for the expected demolition gave the council time to talk to decide whether to relocate and then find possible funding sources. No community groups or businesses had so far come forward wanting to use the building, should it be relocated. A spokesman for the National Trust confirmed the agency was interested in the property and would work with Mr Creasy and the council in the hope a relocation might be possible. The POST Newspaper 18 Oct 2008 Cliffe hangs on cost puzzle The fate of the historic Cliffe mansion now hangs on persuading a majority of Peppermint Grove councillors to move the 114-year-old building. Until now the council has been working on a $3 million estimate given by Peter Bacich, a developer and planning committee chairman. Shire president Brian Kavanagh said he wanted to check Mr Bacich’s assertion that the building was beyond repair. “With respect, I would like to have that discussion with the owner, Mark Creasy, and test those figures,” he told this week’s planning committee meeting. But Mr Bacich said rescuing the house was out of the council’s reach. “It is beyond repair,” he said. “You’re just kidding yourself.” His two colleagues on the planning committee disagreed. “We visited it two years ago and it wasn’t beyond repair,” said councillor Gunnar Vikingur. Councillor Dominic Ward, a cost estimate surveyor, said he would like to help save the house. “I would like to see it relocated and in future years do something with it,” he said. “To just relocate and preserve it so we don’t get any further deterioration would be in the order of $500,000 and we could plan the restoration over a number of years.” The planning committee recommended the council meet with Mr Creasy to decide an end to the 13-year saga. Development of the site has been at the mercy of the house’s on-off heritage status.. But a demolition licence is likely to be granted on Monday after the committee agreed there was nothing it could do since the former Labor government removed its heritage protection. An agreement with Mr Creasy to relocate the house was its last chance. Shire CEO Graham Simpson said the National Heritage Trust had written to the council. “It acknowledged there was little it could do but offer assistance and support to the owner to pursue tax deductions to preserve and relocate the house to a suitable location within the shire,” he said. He said the shire could not afford to move the mansion itself. “We just don’t have the resources to relocate or restore it ourselves,” he said. Mr Bacich said he did not believe tax breaks would be enough to encourage Mr Creasy to move the house. POST Newspapers 14 June 2008 “Our House is a person… big and watching” BY ROMY RANALLI A poem by the late Australian rock musician Dave McComb immortalised the controversial home of his childhood, The Cliffe, said brother Rob McComb from Melbourne this week. The family say they are saddened by parliament's decision to remove The Cliffe's heritage protection status, clearing the way for current owners Mark and Sharon Creasy to finally remove the 114-year-old rare and historic jarrah mansion. Retired plastic surgeon Harold McComb and his wife Athel, a geneticist, lived at the sprawling Peppermint Grove home with their four sons from 1962 until 1995. Youngest son Dave formed the band the Triffids in the late '70s and, after international success with songs like Wide Open Road and Bury Me Deep in Love, moved to Melbourne in the early '90s. The band is to be inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame on July 1, an accolade enjoyed by a small group of Australia's elite musicians. Six collections of The Triffids' original songs were recorded at The Cliffe between 1978 and 1981. Dr and Mrs McComb have a student exercise book of Dave's neatly handwritten poems from his days at Christ Church Grammar School where their son won prizes for English literature and divinity. One is called The Cliffe and was written in 1976 when Dave was 14. Rob McComb, who also played in The Triffids, said the home inspired his famous brother, who loved the house. "The house was the home of the band while we were in Perth," he said. "The sprawling rooms, lofts and underground cellars we used to rehearse in were things most Perth houses didn't have; there was such a strong atmosphere there that Dave would return to it for inspiration." The band rehearsed in The Cliffe's large rooms, with friends and fans gathering in the big kitchen. "There aren't places in Perth with servants' quarters or a scullery," Mr McComb said. "I remember a board in the skullery with little windows attached to flags which would have alerted the servants when a service bell had been rung in a room. "There were so many unusual historical aspects to the house – things I'd be reminded of while travelling in Europe. And as my brothers and I moved away from Perth, our parents thought it was ridiculous to be rattling around in such a big house all by themselves." He said his family would not have sold the home to the Creasys in 1995 if they had known the Creasys wanted to demolish it. "They fought and fought and finally found something in the law that would override any obvious value the house has," Mr McComb said. The decision, a heritage first, which was backed by both the Labor and Liberal parties, was based on a clause in the Heritage Act which could force the government to purchase the $20 million property. Clause 76 enables owners of heritage-listed properties to sell their property to the government if the listing prevented "reasonably beneficial use". Mr McComb denied claims by Mr Creasy and both sides of parliament that the house was derelict. "In 1998 I took my son around to show him the house," Mr McComb said. "I remember showing him the quality of workmanship, how the doors still fitted millimetre-perfect after 100 years, how the solid jarrah shingles, stained glass and beautiful dark floorboards were still in perfect condition. "We lived in it up until the time we sold it and it was fine." Mr Creasy is yet to comment on the fate of the property. His previous offer to move the house to Manners Hill has been rejected by the Shire of Peppermint Grove. AUSTRALIAN Newspaper 10 June 2008 Heritage Fears Over Perth mansion the Cliffe BY PAIGE TAYLOR HERITAGE experts fear Western Australia could lose more of its most significant buildings, including art deco-style South Fremantle Power Station, after a little-known clause in the State Heritage Act helped clear the way for the demolition of a rare jarrah mansion, The Cliffe. The Cliffe, a riverside gentleman's residence built entirely of jarrah in 1894 and later the birthplace of pop-rock group the Triffids, was scrubbed from the state's heritage list last month by state parliament in a heritage first. Labor MPs voted with the Liberal Party on the motion after the Carpenter Government realised it was potentially exposed to a $20million lawsuit under clause 76 of the 1990 State Heritage Act. The clause, never used, allows owners of heritage-listed properties to ask the Government to buy their property if its heritage listing makes it "incapable of reasonably beneficial use, and that the carrying out of any reasonable development could not render the land capable of reasonably beneficial use". Perth heritage consultant Ian Hocking said: "I think The Cliffe decision certainly sets a precedent for demolition by default." Heritage Perth executive director Richard Offen, formerly a director at the National Trust (UK), said: "I really do worry that this is the thin edge of the wedge. It's sending out all the wrong messages. It's saying if you don't want your property listed, we'll do something about it, which is not something that happens in heritage in the UK, where I come from. The other problem is it devalues the state's heritage list." Heritage Council of WA chairman Gerry Gauntlett said most of the owners of the 1200 buildings on the state heritage list were happy their properties were protected. "But I think there's a real risk now that a precedent has been set to have a place taken off the register basically at the owners' request," he said. Mark Creasy, who has publicly doubted the heritage value of The Cliffe, which he and his wife Sharon bought in 1995, did not respond to a request for an interview yesterday. The 20-room house sits high above the Swan River in the historic Perth suburb of Peppermint Grove and retains its coachhouse, stables, summerhouse, servants' cottages and parts of the original gardens. It was classified by the National Trust in 1984. It is where the Triffids lead singer David McComb grew up - he composed, rehearsed and recorded there until moving to Melbourne in 1992. The band enjoyed success with Wide Open Road and Bury Me Deep In Love. The cover of their last album, The Black Swan, features The Cliffe's stable. Heritage consultant Rosemary Rosario said she was saddened The Cliffe could now be demolished. "It's a pity more people do not appreciate that it's a great privilege to have a heritage house, and value them as an individual and value to the state," she said. Fremantle Society president Ian Alexander said there were serious fears for other historic buildings not owned by government, such as the vacated South Fremantle Power Station, owned by energy provider Verve. A Verve spokeswoman said it was too early to tell whether the organisation would redevelop or demolish the building. POST Newspapers 7 June 2008 Cliffe demo is music to Creasy’s ears At 10.04pm last Thursday Peter Collier stood in Parliament and paved the way for the wrecking of the historic mansion The Cliffe in Peppermint Grove, 114 years after it was built. The debate, rushed before the Legislative Council, signalled that Mr Collier's Liberal Party was supporting Parliament's first delisting of an order by the Heritage Council so that the house could be demolished. Mr Collier said that, as a history teacher, he had visited the house at 25 Bindaring Parade years ago and concluded that it was not worth saving. He said the house was falling down and uninhabitable, would cost $3 million to restore, was barely visible from the street, and the owner, Sharon Creasy, wife of prospector Mark Creasy, has been in heritage limbo since buying the property for $2.7 million in 1995. Mr Collier said Mrs Creasy could not demolish or sell the property, which had been hit with a heritage order soon after it was bought. It is thought to be worth more than $20 million now that demolition is possible. The Creasys had offered to move the house to a council reserve for public use, but removal from the site, which originally stretched from Bindaring Parade to Stirling Highway, was not acceptable to the Heritage Council. The house was built in 1894 as a showpiece for timber as building product, and more recently has acquired international recognition among music-lovers as the birthplace of the music of The Triffids, this week inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. The Creasys bought the house from plastic surgeon Dr Harold McComb, father of Triffids founder the late David McComb.
Shire president Brian Kavanagh hopes at least the main rooms of The Cliffe can be shifted to a local park such as Keane's Point Reserve to replace existing riverside tearooms.
The Cliffe was built by prominent engineer and timber exporter Neil McNeil in 1894 to showcase the state's old-growth timber.
The bucolic 20-room residence - which retains its coachhouse, stables, summerhouse, servants' cottages and part of the original gardens - was classified by the National Trust in 1984 for its cultural and heritage significance.
It was the family home of The Triffids' late lead singer, David McComb; it is where he grew up, composed, recorded and rehearsed hits such as Wide Open Road and Bury Me Deep In Love.
It was the backdrop for some of the band's lasting portraits, and the cover of the band's last album, The Black Swan, features The Cliffe's stables.
But The Cliffe has deteriorated and was doomed in June by a special act of state parliament that controversially removed it from the West Australian Heritage Council's register, stripping it of legal protections.
On Monday night, Peppermint Grove councillors approved its demolition. Mr Kavanagh told The Australian there was a strong desire among his fellow councillors to see The Cliffe moved. He said he was heartened that owner Mark Creasy was open-minded about the proposal.
"We need to investigate the costs of relocating and ask the community for its point of view," Mr Kavanagh said. "But I personally believe it's a valuable building and worth saving."
In 1995, Sharon and Mark Creasy bought The Cliffe for $2.7 million from McComb's parents, who were then in their 70s, but the land could now be worth more than $20 million.
Mr Creasy has previously publicly doubted the property's heritage value but could not be reached for comment yesterday. He has agreed to meet Peppermint Grove councillors on November 8 to discuss their relocation proposal.
Labor and Liberal MPs voted to strip The Cliffe of its heritage protection after the Carpenter government realised it was potentially exposed to a $20 million lawsuit under a clause in the 1990 State Heritage Act.
