May 2022
Congratulations to Ringwood & District Historical Society (RDHS) in leading a successful campaign to save from demolition a local landmark, the 1914 Blood Brothers Store.
In 2020 the Ringwood and District Historical Society (RDHS) alerted the RHSV to the proposed demolition by Maroondah City Council of a local landmark, the 1914 Blood Brothers Store, in order to build a multi-storey carpark. This building is the last remaining pre-First World War shop in Ringwood’s commercial hub and has close connection to two pioneer families. It has a highly unusual feature: a façade of rare majolica tiles with the shop name incorporated into the tiles. The building is covered by a Heritage Overlay ‘as a rare and relatively intact rural Edwardian corner shop’. Throughout 2020 and 2021 the RDHS fought to prevent the demolition of this local landmark, and the RHSV wrote several letters to the Maroondah City Council in support of their efforts.
RDHS’s efforts were rewarded in May 2022 when the Council’s Director of Strategy and Community announced that the store will not be demolished. The statement gave no further details about the future of the building or its relationship to the proposed multi-storey carpark, except to say that there are two planning options being prepared. The RDHS is concerned that the store be protected from building works and dealt with in respectful and tasteful manner. It has requesting further details and will be urging that an appropriate Heritage Impact Statement be produced. At this stage, the outcome has been encouraging, but there is still considerable work to be done. Nevertheless the saving of the Blood Brothers Store is a significant win for heritage in Ringwood and for the current and future generations of the area.
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