In the post-war years there was a desire for change. Some councils "modernised" their streetscapes by requiring the removal of "old-fashioned" iron-lacework verandahs.
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However, many regional cities, like Ballarat and Bendigo, understood that their heritage was an asset. Melbourne City Council recognised that some verandahs should be exempt, such as the one surrounding Victoria Market.
Horsham City Council went all-in. At a meeting on July 1, 1952, by-law number 35 was passed. This decreed that after December 31, 1952, any verandahs over public land must be of a cantilever design and that all verandahs currently supported by posts must be removed before January 31, 1963.
All nine councillors in 1952 were businessmen and several had premises in Firebrace Street. The Council's rationale for the by-law was that verandah posts were a safety hazard for cars and pedestrians but one trader let slip that removal of the posts would allow passing motorists a better view of his window display.
The by-law's initiators were two Firebrace Street traders, Cr Rod Burgess and Cr Ron Shepherd. They said that Horsham needed a "cleaner look" to modernise it and make it more appealing for commerce. At the time, the voters' roll was skewed to favour businessmen, many of whom had three votes each whereas ordinary residents had only one.
Most owners held out until near the end of the grace period, no doubt hoping that the council would alter its position. By 1959 only 35% of the verandahs had been removed. Many shop-owners did not go to the additional expense of replacing their verandah with a cantilevered version, with the result that pedestrians were exposed to the elements.
The Council spent £20,000 (about $1.5 million today) to remove its own verandahs. Some were never replaced, such as at the Mechanics Institute.
Firebrace Street hotels had the best verandahs. They all had a balcony decorated with fine cast-iron lacework on the balustrade. The first to fall was the White Hart's, removed in 1960. The Exchange Hotel held out longer, demolishing its verandah in September 1962.
A last-ditch attempt in November 1962 by concerned citizens, including the Historical Society, to save the Royal Hotel's beautiful verandah and balcony was not enough to earn it a reprieve. Particularly galling was that the verandah had been renovated and extended just 15 years previously. Shamefully, the Council's response was to falsely claim, "Only an Act of Parliament could make an exemption".
On December 10, 1962, The Wimmera Mail-Times sadly reported, "The balcony of Horsham's Royal Hotel crashed to the pavement with a roar of shattered timber yesterday morning". The extent of the council's earlier duplicity was revealed when, at a meeting in 1987, they quietly repealed by-law 35 in its entirety. But by then the damage was done. In an August 1989 editorial the Mail-Times said, "The ... vandalism deprived Horsham of some of its priceless heritage".
In 1989 two major new verandah proposals were put to the Council for approval. A verandah for the Wynne Building, on the corner of Darlot and Wilson streets, was subsequently built but an ambitious proposal to reinstate the Royal Hotel's verandah and balcony did not proceed. Other street verandahs have been built over the years, in particular outside the Bull and Mouth Hotel, completed in 2020.
Two urban myths have evolved over the loss of Horsham's cast-iron decorated verandahs and balconies. The principal urban myth, based on the Council's rationale, is that cars kept running into and breaking verandah posts making the verandahs liable to collapse on innocent pedestrians. There is just enough of a grain of truth to make this plausible. The only serious incident prior to the by-law being passed was in April 1950 when, after a session, a patron left the Bull and Mouth Hotel, got into his car and pressed the starter while the car was in gear. The car mounted the footpath and a verandah pole was broken. The verandah did not fall.
A more memorable event occurred in June 1953. A youth in an old Plymouth realised too late that a driver in front had slowed to turn and swerved, taking out a heavy stop sign and three verandah posts on the White Hart Hotel. Despite this, the verandah merely sagged. This is likely to be the event that stuck in people's minds but it was 12 months after the by-law had already been passed.
A far more inventive myth also continues to be heard today. The story goes that the lady mayoress ran into a verandah pole with her car and was injured and so the by-law was created.
In January 1954 mayoress, Emma Morson, was indeed injured after a collision with a verandah post (The Horsham Times, 11 January 1954). However, her husband, William Morson, was not the mayor when the by-law was created, the incident occurred 3 years after the by-law had already been passed, she was on foot and the verandah post she fell against was on her own house.