Widening the Streets
Compensation
The official notification of the resumption of the north side
of Oxford Street was published in the Government Gazette, 1
June 1909. Owners and lessees of effected properties were compensated
by the Council for disruption or loss of business and loss of premises.
Council’s Valuers estimated that a sum of £355,000 would
have to be paid in respect of the resumption. By the end of 1909
Council had received 120 claims for compensation. Each claim went
through a lengthy process of confirmation of ownership, independent
valuations, and negotiations before reaching final settlement. The
compensation process favoured property owners and long-term secured
tenants. Short term tenants’ claims for compensation were
invalid.
|
Identifying
the site
The City Surveyor produced a detailed plan showing each of
the allotments along Oxford Street. Once a claim for compensation
had been lodged, the property was identified on the plan and
an individual file created. This is the resumption plan for
92-96 Oxford Street, the England Building, drawn by the City
Surveyor. It had been owned by J. M. Wright. James Stedman
& Co., trustees of Wright’s will, applied for compensation.
(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS 63/CN302)
|
Click
to Enlarge
Size: 133 KB
|
|
England
Building, 92-96 Oxford Street
This is the building identified in the resumption plan drawn
by the City Surveyor and subject to a compensation claim by
James Stedman & Co., Oxford Street Resumption claim number
302.
(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS
51/2967)
|
Click
to Enlarge
Size: 81 KB
|
| A
long process
Claims for compensation took the Council a long time to process
and negotiate. Goldstein & Co. were furniture warehousemen
with a prominent shop at 66-68 Oxford Street. They had a five
year lease dating from October 1906 and claimed compensation
for loss of premises, relocation, and damage to the goodwill,
value or trade of their business during the resumption period.
In July 1910 they complained bitterly to Alderman J.L. Mullins
about the delay in Council serving the notice of valuation.
They had been waiting twelve months with little progress.
It is perhaps not surprising that in most cases the Council
challenged the amount of compensation being sought as they
tried to minimise their costs. When the Council finally offered
them £367-3-9 in August 1910, Goldstein's protested
that this was too low. Despite further negotiations and lobbying
from aldermen, the extra £100 requested was not forthcoming
and Goldstein & Co. finally accepted the offer on 31 October
1910.
(image: City of Sydney Archvies, CRS 63/CN654) |
Click
to Enlarge
Size: 135 KB
|
|
Goldstein
& Co., 66-68 Oxford Street
This is the premises of H. Goldstein & Company, Furniture
Warehousemen.
(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS
51/2963)
|
Click
to Enlarge
Size: 130 KB
|
| Working
the system
It definitely helped if you were are large firm, well connected
and knew how to work the system. The London Bank of Australia
Limited was one such firm. The bank had bought their prominent
corner property back in 1883 and built a fine sandstone edifice
that symbolised the bank’s wealth and prestige. They
did not want to give the site up in a hurry. So in the course
of negotiating their compensation claim, they asked the Council
whether they could have the property transferred back to them
after widening. They also gamely asked Council to provide
them with premises from which they could conduct business
while their new building was being built. Council was amenable
to the scheme. Plans were drawn up and modified for the new
site. The plan pictured shows the original location of the
bank hatched in blue and the new site in alignment with the
widened roads coloured red. It was a complex settlement and
negotiations were difficult, but in the end the Lord Mayor
Allen Taylor was satisfied that the deal was “a fair
and equitable one”. The smaller Union Bank of Australia
up the road would not have agreed. It was THEIR premises that
the Council had agreed to pass over to the London Bank while
their new building were being built. In contrast to its competitor,
the Union Bank didn’t appear to be given any support
by the Council to stay in their premises.
(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS 63/CN694)
|
Click
to Enlarge
Size: 166 KB
|
|
London
Bank of Australia Ltd, 62 Oxford Street
The imposing sandstone premises of the London Bank in 1910
prior to the widening of Oxford Street.
(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS 51/2962)
|
Click
to Enlarge
Size: 81 KB
|
| No
rights – G. A. Zink, Tailor
If you were a small business and a tenant on a short term
lease, you had little chance of receiving compensation. Gustav
Adolf Zink was a tailor based at 108 Oxford Street. He claimed
£150 compensation “for disturbance of business,
having been established in this property for seven years and
seven years almost adjoining”. His status was as “a
tenant as long as I choose to stay”. But it was not
accepted by the Council because Zink could not furnish any
evidence in support of his claim to be a tenant at will.(CRS63/CN945)
Zink proclaimed the unfairness of the matter for the entire
world to see. He was (in his own words painted on the awning):
“The Right Man on the Wrong Side”. But he was
obviously attached to Oxford Street and the trade it brought
him. He moved into new premises at 56 Oxford Street after
the road was widened and the business is still there today.
(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS 51/2971)
|
Click
to Enlarge
Size: 52 KB
|
| No
rights – Joe Gardiner, Bootman
Joe Gardiner’s Boot Factory at 58-60 Oxford Street
had been there since June 1905. Reuben Gardiner asked for
£765 compensation as the occupier. He claimed that he
was a yearly tenant, but there was no written lease or other
documents to prove it and his claim was rejected. (CRS63/CN945)
(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS 51/2957) |
Click
to Enlarge
Size: 63 KB
|
| No
rights – Charles Kinsela, Undertakers
Charles Kinsela, Undertaker and Embalmer, was located at
116 Oxford Street. He had a lease on the building for another
2 years and wanted compensation. Council was not planning
to demolish this section for three years, by which time the
lease (which would be transferred to Council) would have expired.
The claim was declared invalid. (CRS63/CN945) Kinselas later
moved to the other side of the street up at Taylor Square
and built a stylish 'moderne' funeral parlour and chapel.
(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS 51/2973) |
Click
to Enlarge
Size: 76 KB
|
| Notice
of Valuation
Businesses and owners granted compensation were issued with
a notice of valuation. This is the certificate of Frederick
Saidy who ran the Oxford Billiard Saloon at 72-74 Oxford Street.
He received £1000 compensation for the curtailment of
his 10 year lease.
(image: City of Sydney Archives, CRS
63/CN686) |
Click
to Enlarge
Size: 131 KB
|
|
