AUTHOR: KATE WRAIGHT. SID: 440390053
ALLSPICE: WHEN HISTROY BECOMES JUST ANOTHER GARNISH In many respects if Chippendale were a man of today, he would probably make a living doing something chic and cutting edge; with a job title that no-one really quite understands but makes the appropriate impressed nods and noises over at Saturday night drinks. He would sport a snappy slimlegged suit, effortlessly tussled man-bun or alternatively a manicured beard – needless to say he would never dare to try both at the same time – yet I digress too early. He would present a hipster yet veiled exterior, somehow acknowledging humble-surfaced origins but directing attention not to where he has come from, but projecting to the life he wants to lead. His history is just another aesthetic. Not quite fake; but very far from authentic. Chippendale's Spice Alley is this Man.
1 Fig 1. Right. The architectural styles utilised at Spice Alley lend themselves more towards an aesthetics-driven pick and choose nature rather than one that is informed by the site's history. Photograph and collage by K.Wraight [2019], Sydney.
William
Rat Catcher and more recently Manfranchi
retained selected like a magpie curating
Chippindale in 1798 (no relation to
and Chow. Those names being worn as a
a shiny architectural program; the rest
the
badge of honour rather than as a warning.
discarded.
unfortunately) the swampy marshland that
Now,
houses are painted with a jaunty palette
then surrounded Blackwattle Creek was
lingering odour of 170 years worth hops, selected to match what was thought to be
Granted
by
infamous
the
crown
London
to
cabinet-maker
having
finally
diffused
the
The faces of the terrace
an early Sydney town along Dickensian
Chippendale is one of the city’s most
the original colours of the building with the
lines. In the 1820s the industrial heart of
sought after addresses. Peppered with
exception of the saturation having been
the precinct began to emerge, and the
art galleries, award winning restaurants
amplified beyond recognition; ironically
development of the Carlton and United
and home to Central Park and a diverse
only somewhat palatable. One can’t resist
Breweries brought workers, and families
populace, the suburb has undergone a
comparing the building’s new masks with
to the district. Those sixteen surviving
rapid sequence of gentrification. The
those of the ladies of the night that were
heritage listed terrace houses that were
forgotten laneway of full of those sixteen
once synonymous for the area; unlikely
once homes for the brewery managers 1840s terrace houses is no exception. the historical allusion that Tonkin Zulaikha Reimagined by by Architects Tonkin
Greer were aiming for. And yet this is only
heritage houses in Sydney. Yet a far cry Zulaikha Greer and Landscape Architects
the face of Spice Alley, it is what’s set in
from the oft romanticised working-class Turf Design Studio, in consultation with
the laneways beyond, the backyards of the
notion that we call up when we experience
heritage architect Paul Davies, the terrace
terraces and the series of interconnecting
nostalgia over overgrown bricks
houses were converted into galleries and
courtyards where the real inauthenticities
are one of the oldest groups of surviving
- the
place was an area of notorious reputability- restaurants and opened in September 2015. lie. the hardest in Sydney hit by crime, Retaining some of their original features, prostitution, poverty and drugs for nearly
that is, only the narrow timber stair, and
100 years . The suburb became infamous
old black stoves, the once lively dwellings
for its turn of shady characters and was
have otherwise been hollowed out to a
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tantamount with names such as Pig Mary, husk. The key architectural elements to be
1
1
2
‘‘
The deceit noes not necessary lie in the fact that nothing matches, but instead that it has been designed so that nothing matches; the artificial
”
layering of time to create the illusion of agedness
2 Fig 2. Above. The narrow pedestrian corridor linking Central Park towards Kensington Street and Spice Alley offers only only a backfrop of concrete and congested architecture. Digital Photograph by K.Wraight [2019], Sydney.
Kensington Street’s Spice Alley is a jagged
It is all part of the performance if This is the trickery of, and the downfall to,
laneway strung with lanterns. At peak
architecture, and if I’m honest, the illusion
mimicking natural urban development.
hours over lunch and dinner one might
is almost a convincing one.
There’s no denying that Central Park is a great collaborative piece of architecture
even be forgiven for likening the place
to a modern-day hawkers market. Four Yet it is during the subtle twilight hours, that attracts visitors and now typifies permanent Spice Alley stalls are lined up
when the alley is more still and devoid
that area. It is an unashamedly modern
across the façade of Kensington Street
of its distracting human bustle that the
development sitting comfortably within
heritage terraces. Encircling them is a
more
the context of the old and is dominated
subtle
inauthenticities
can
be
maze of stools, scattered below red and
noticed. Those LED-lit polyester red and
by the One Central Park Tower both
gold lanterns, so the-east Asian street
gold lanterns hanging above are not hand
physically, and by the sustainable initiative
murals and entrances that lead to the
crafted, but rather all possess the same
that it represents within the landscape of
hollowed out terrace rooms. Depending
bulk
I
the city. The park is ringed by tall towers
on the time of day and where you sit, the
warehouse-fabricated
pattern.
suspect they were likely ordered of as a
which sit on street-aligned podiums that
experience may oddly feel quite intimate, rush hour delivery of Amazon two weeks
would tighten the feeling of scale of the
or evoke the claustrophobia of an Asian
before the public opening. The timber
park if, moving in towards the centre of the
Hawker centre. The cheek to jowel eatery
and powder coated steel stools look
park, the building heights did not stagger
presents a beguiling aroma of spices
weathered and are on-trend but on closer
down significantly. The dramatic sweep
and flavours from wok fires and open-air
inspection are merely the effect of a post- of heights is surprisingly welcoming and
kitchens. Chefs swing roti, cleave meats, fabrication-faux-weathered-wood-paint- effective considering the high density flip stir fires and always step back from the
stipple. Something that should have been
two-foot flame with a practiced smile as
described simply as aged, doesn’t stand
the controlled flash fire leaps from the pan. up to scrutiny and now all is see is fake.
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living of 1000+ people per hectare2. Yet as the entrances to the northern and southern aspects of the park park are wide, low set
3 Fig 3. Above. Why even bother? the oversaturated facades of the heritage terraces are meant to reflect the original colours of the buildings. Digital Photograph by K.Wraight [2019], Sydney.
4 Fig 4. Above. The post-production tagging of the wall murials by Artist Scott Marsh allude to a false sense of agedness and urban authenticity. Digital Photograph by K.Wraight [2019], Sydney.
and open, the entrance to the east, as
of the Victorian Brewery cottages. If the
wallpapers and menu boards. Only to
one continues on foot towards
Tonkin Zulaikha Greer were envisioning
be topped with a pièce de résistance
Spice Alley, is a completely different
them to fit within the realm of the street
red oriental canopy and then abut to
experience. If feels like too much has
food aesthetic then they are too neat
the adjacent grey rendered apartment
been packed into this part of the city. – too quaint, for a place that makes
block. If one makes the effort to look
claim to, indeed, was designed to feel
up it is truly dazzling to behold, and on
The pathway to Kensington Street is barely a pathway; it is more a steep
like a hawker-style street market. They
the first glance busy enough for the
gash of an opening within the face of
are really just the cornerstone (pun
eye to skim over it and accept it as an
the surrounding JPW Building. When
intended) of some very serious concerns
informed complexity. The deceit noes
combined with the tight closeness of
I have regarding the development of
not necessary lie in the fact that nothing
the adjacent fibre cement and glass
an urban style environment that have
matches, but instead that it has been
student accommodation buildings, the
traditionally developed naturally and
designed so that nothing matches; the
greyness of the concrete and shale
temporally.
artificial layering of time to create the
cobblestones and the narrowness of
inspired graffiti murals by Scott Marsh.
Similar
too
are
Asian-
illusion of agedness.
the existing laneways everything feels
Within themselves beautiful pieces of
uncomfortably tight by the time we
street art, however the inclusion of what
The (?post)justification lies in the oft
reach the low set Victorian terraces of
appear to be post-production tagging
overworked statement “We aimed to
Spice Alley. If the intent was intimacy,
only betrays the lack of authenticity of
touch lightly but decisively in forging
then the effect instead has been to
the piece and makes me thing that this
something new from old”3. This project
create some of the most efficient wind
is a Disneyland version of Asia; or at the
brings into question the authenticity
tunnels in Sydney.
very least a idealised and Westernised
behind that statement. We provide
version of a Hawker market that hints at
obvious deference to the new while still
It’s out of character for something
a history that it doesn’t rightfully posses.
as simple as stonework to rile me
trying to entertain the notion that the old is still valued because it would be
up, however it surprised me that the
The new kitchens are unobtrusive,
inconsiderate or taboo to do otherwise.
herringbone-laid cobblestones within
designed like an open-air food court.
Yet the old is treated like a resource.
the courtyards of Spice Alley tipped me
Yet they are clad in a pastiche of eras.
Not necessarily something that holds
neatly over the edge. Beautifully executed
Victorian
intrinsic value purely from its agedness,
weatherboard
cladding,
and well maintained given the traffic
surrounding faux pilasters complete with
materiality, or what is has stook and
they receive every week, the bespoke
Victorian-style mouldings, combined
witnessed in the City’s history, but
Boral bricks are without question out of
with
place within the working-class aesthetic
then culminate to meet manga-style of
bamboo-look
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cladding,
which
merely another aesthetic layer to play with; something to dress itself up in.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 Fitzgerald, Shirley. “The Dictionary of Sydney: Chippendale.” The Dictionary of Sydney, Last modified 2008. Accessed 03.06.2019. https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/chippendale. 2Lehmann, Steffen. “Sustainable urbanism: towards a framework for quality and optimal density?”. Future Cities and Environment. 2. No 8. (2016) pp. 1-29 3 “Kensington Street at Central Park”. Turf Design Architects. Accessed 03.06.2019. http://turfdesign.com/kensingtonstreet-central-park/
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