Here is that letter.

Dr George Christos

1 Kathleen Street

Bassendean WA 6054

10 November 2025

Hocking Heritage Studios

156 Onslow Rd,

Shenton Park WA 6008

sent to their email address: hello@hockingha.com.au


To Whom it may concern,

Dear Sir/Madam,

I have an issue with the “Town of Bassendean” about the heritage listing of my property at 1 Kathleen Street, Bassendean. After I thought I had convinced them that their facts were wrong, and they said they would remove from property from the heritage list, they did a backflip and have turned it around and told me to get a consultant, as their consultant (namely you) have listed it as category 2 (exceptional). Clearly, they are trying to pass the buck now. This avenue may lead to legal action. I would prefer to avoid that if possible, so I am writing to you. I rang some time ago, and spoke to Prue about this matter. Like I explained to Prue, I would like to give you some more facts about my house and I ask that you reconsider your evaluation of my house in light of this new evidence.

I moved into my house at 1 Kathleen Street, Bassendean in June 1985 and I have tried to fix it keeping in with traditional methods, design and materials. I have attached numerous old photos of my house when I moved in with this letter. They are located here. The turned posts had all been cut in half and a brick wall had been built all the way around the verandah. All the floorboards and all the under-timbers had to be replaced, as most were rotten. The SW corner was so rotten, one had to walk on large sheets of plywood and masonite. The NW corner of the verandah had been eaten by white ants, which had also attacked the oregon beam on the north side and some of the rear of the house.

When I bought the house I offered the full asking price because the other interested party wanted to knock out walls inside the house and would have destroyed it. I had a passion for character homes. About one year after I bought the house, the daughter of the Smith family (from whom I bought the house), and who was in a relationship with a real estate agent’s son (Carter Real Estate Bayswater), came around to my house and offered me double what I had paid for it, namely $100,000. I said no. The boyfriend knew the property was zoned R40 and was a 6 unit site. They were hoping to buy it and bowl it over. I saved it for a second time. Let’s also be clear, that I did not have to put the turned posts back in the same style, or replace the 3 inch (non-original) half rotten floorboards with the proper 5 ¼ inch floorboards which I got from demolitions sites. I learnt a lot by savaging through demolition sites about the correct architecture for my house and its age and I preceded to ‘restore’ it, in my design. I did not have to be so pedantic.

In addition to this, lots of other original features about the house had been changed before I bought it. The double windows in the lounge room (on the north side) had been replaced with modern french doors. The window on the southern side had been replaced by a door, which was just a hanging set of beads (no door) to an asbestos sleepout (enclosing part of verandah). The entire back of the house had been altered and a couple of asbestos rooms (sides and ceilings made of asbestos) had been added on. The door to the bathroom was missing and the fireplace in the lounge room had been replaced. The internal floorboards were also completely ruined as the rubber underlay had been glued heavily to the timber floor. The kitchen had been completely made over just prior to 1985 when I bought the house. The only things that were original were the front steps (and they had been rendered), and the 2 sets of double windows at the front of the house. The windows were not working, but instead of replacing them with aluminium windows I restored them myself. A couple of internal doors were original to the house. I rebuilt the front door and the surround, as well as the flywire door. You can see from one photo that I did not even have enough moulding to put on the bottom of the door, so I compromised. Look here.

The attractive features of my house are all my own design, like the turned posts and all the frieze work, and mouldings. I basically rebuilt what the house looks like from the street. I regard the house as containing much of my own “artwork”. I think of myself as a bit of an architectural artist. I often go under the name “giorgioangelo”. I painted the lounge ceiling so it looks like the sky, hence the name giorgioangelo, in direct association with michaelangelo. See video of ceiling here. Other examples of my artwork on this property are located here.

In 2019 the Bassendean Town Council (BTC) passed a motion to protect my house from demolition. Although I am not against preserving my old house and the work I have done, I feel like I am being PUNISHED, as my property is zoned R40 and is a 6 unit site. It is listed on the BTC heritage list as category 2 (exceptional). When I met with a Mr Tim Roberts from the shire in 2019, I was promised incentives to participate in this scheme, that it would be in writing and that I did not have to participate in it. Here is a copy of his initial letter to me, here. Not only did I not receive any incentives but I am being blatantly penalised. That is just unacceptable. My acceptance of these matters was never sought as promised. I do not wish to participate in their brainless scheme.

In 2023 I estimated my property as a six unit site to be worth a minimum of 6 x $300,000 = $1,800,000 dollars. On its own (with the heritage tag) my house was been valued at $1.1 to 1.2 million dollars in 2023, a shortfall of $600,000. The shortfall would be even greater now. I have a few evaluations to support this. All of the 4 agents I used have said that my house would be worth much more, even if I do not develop the land, if it was NOT on the heritage list. I guess that means the new owner would have more freedom in whatever he or she is wants to do. In any case, as the property is wrongfully on the heritage list, I just want it corrected. I want it taken off the Council’s heritage list forthwith.

I am also especially aggrieved because the house is only being listed because of my hard work, and hence I am receiving no acknowledgement for my work. That aside there are also errors in what the council may have told you. The house has no heritage value. It is like a bad joke, that I have to run around and try to correct this error.

At the moment I have lost all motivation to work on my house any longer, mainly because of the way the council has treated me. The BTC has done other nasty things to me and my property, that I will no bother mentioning here.

I met with your CEO of the Bassendean Town Council, Mr Cameron Woods, and the Director of Planning, Mr Luke Gibson, on 6^th June 2023, and they told me that they would de-list my property from the heritage list at that meeting when I presented them with evidence that the BTC had its facts wrong. Afterwards, they turned it all around and put the onus on me to prove my property was not heritage material. In that email/letter from Mr Woods it said that my house was listed in category 2 by Hocking Heritage Studios, and told me to go get my own consultant to try to have the matter reversed. I was infuriated as that was not a good summary of what we had discussed at the meeting. It made more sense to me for the BTC to ask Hocking Heritage Studios to reassess my property in light of the evidence I had presented to them, including the fact that my house was not built or commissioned to be built by Edward Clay. I even said I would pay for Hocking Heritage Studios (HHS) to re-assess my house. In any case, if I am to proceed, with my own consultants, I need to know what HHS was told, so I asked Mr Woods for that information. He did not respond, so I did an FOI to find out what HHS was told, and I was told I had to pay about $700 to get this information. Wtf? I have never been asked to pay for FOI before and this is my own Council that is treating me like this. I don’t really need to FOI this information, because it is available online here, and I have some information from previous discussions with the Council.

My understanding is that the 2 main reasons why a house is listed on the heritage list are first and foremost its history and secondly it’s street appeal. I have continually objected to using “street appeal” as a reason to punish me, as what you see from the front is all my own work and design, including the all the timber work on the verandahs, and even the unusual scrolls underneath the front windows (these were originally listed as one of the outstanding features of the house). Here is a link to a document prepared by the Bassendean Town Council mentioning the window sills as an outstanding feature of the house. What a bloody joke. The window scrolls were made by me from offcuts from my work on the posts, from the capital and corporal mouldings. I refer you to this video.The spiky tin bits around the gutters are also my own work and design. I even rebuilt my garage to match in nicely with my house. I have presented council with numerous photos of how derelict my house was. I have no doubt it would have been demolished if it was not for me. Instead of thanking me for my hard work, my council has chosen to punish me. They have also mistreated me in by putting me through all of this now. It has caused me much anxiety. They know this. Many of them also know that I have a history of chronic depression. They are hoping I will be unable to deal with this.

I recently took 3 photos of my house from the front. It is barely visible to passer-bys. The photos are located here.

Anyhow, the main sticking point about the heritage listing of my house has to do with whether my house was built or commissioned to be built by Mr Clay or not.

I would like to add that I complained as to why my house was being singled out as being so special just because an ex-mayor built it anyhow, not that he did. Has every other house belonging to an ex-mayor been listed? No. I pointed out that 20 Kenny Street had been built by Mr Richard MacDonald, who was the most prominent mayor in Bassendean from 1929-1938, 1939-1947, and 1960-1962, that is for 21 years over a stretch of 5 decades. His house was not added to the heritage list until after I raised this matter with the BTC in a email dated 20 May 2022. Mr Clay was only mayor from 1920-1921. The BTC has not named anything after him if he was so important. To the contrary other mayors have had things named after them, for example, Cyril Jackson Campus, The MacDonald Stand, Pickering Park, Gainsworthy Place, Faulkner Hall, etc..

Back to Mr Clay. The land title shows my block was established in 1914, but I have consistently maintained that my house was built before 1914 as it belonged to a much larger house that was at the corner of Kenny and Palmerston Streets. That house was exactly the same style as my house but 4 times as big. It has since been demolished.

I have presented council with a photograph, taken from Jenny Carter’s book taken c1910, that shows my house had been built BEFORE 20 Kenny Street which was built in 1913, which is not in the photograph. That photograph is here.

I recently asked Ms Denise Hardie, who is a descendent of Mr Clay to write a note for me detailing her memories about my house. I attached that here as well. This is what she said: (a copy is located here)

To Whom it May Concern,

I am the Great Granddaughter of Edward James Clay and Emma Clay, whose former residence 1 Kathleen Street Bassendean , is listed on the Heritage register and is now in the ownership of Dr George Christos.

To the best of my knowledge, my Great Grandparents did not build the property  and moved into the house after residing in Lord street.

I believe the property before this  was in the ownership of a landowner who also owned property on the corner of Palmerston and Kenny street.

Our family believes that prior to this , the property had originally been built by Cuming Smith as a manager’s residence.

My connection with this residence ceased in the late 70’s when my grandparents Jean and Malcome Clay sold .

I wish Dr Christos every success with his rezoning issue and the continuing preservation of this fine residence.

The house had however NOT been built by Mr Cuming Smith for their manager as Cuming-Smith arrived in WA from Victoria in 1913. They bought the houses. I know a lot about WA architecture and my house is older than 1914. I believe it is c1904. I found a postal record in the Battyl Library dated 1904 when I first moved into this house. I informed the previous Town Planner Mr Brian Reed about this in 2019.

Mr Alexander MacDonald, who lived all his life at 20 and 24 Kenny Street, and who was one of the main sources for Jenny Carter’s book, told me that my house had been built by the owners of the larger house at the corner of Kenny and Palmerston Streets for one of the daughters of the owner, but she never took up the offer, so when the land containing my house was subdivided in 1914, it was partitioned out of that estate. The current/recent mayor Ms Kathryn Hamilton is also aware that my house was part of the estate which included the house on the corner of Kenny and Palmerston Streets. See looked at some old rate notices held in the Bassendean Library.

Given that my house has no strong historical significance to Mr Edward Clay is reason enough to have it removed from the heritage list.

I have repeatedly said that I am all for preserving my house if I am not punished. The council has refused to offer any incentives to save my house. Timothy Roberts promised I did not have to participate in this scheme and that I would be offered incentives to have my house listed. I don’t want any incentives as I do not want it listed and it should not be listed either. I met with Cr Hamilton and Poiliwka in 2023 to discuss incentives. They said they would think about it, bit nothing came back to me. Cr Poiliwka said my house was desirable because it had a steep roof, but so do all the other old houses. To this end I ask why the other old houses on the corners of Palmerston street with Kathleen Street and Kenny Street are not also listed in the heritage list as high as mine. There is also a superb early turn of Century house at what I think is at 1 Kenny Street that has a lot more character than my house. I have attached photos of these houses in this folder.

I recently came up with a good idea when I was talking to Ms Lauren Blackman from the Ombudsman’s Office that could help save my house and keep everyone happy. That idea was to increase the zoning of my property so 5 units (or close to 5) could be built at the back of my house. The proposal which I submitted was to rezone my property as R100 which is what the BTC has rezone the strip of land alongside my NW boundary on Guildford Road. I sent this proposal to the BTC, and I spoke to Mr Luke Gibson about this, but I am dismayed that it is not even mentioned in his report to council. I rang Mr Gibson when I received a copy of his report asking him to ring me back asap. Nothing. He did not ring back at all. I wrote to all councillors about this as well, and not one councillor replied to me.

I have no intention to build anything on my property. I just don’t want to be financially punished for have done a good deed for my local shire. My Gibson keeps telling me to put in plans. I do not understand why he does not understand that I do not want to develop my site. I just want to preserve to some extent the financial value in this property. I am not making any money out of this proposal. I bought my property because it had an R40 zoning, and I felt that this protected me if I spent too much money on my house.

Any heritage listing should also detail what I have done to this house. It was on the market for 6 months when I bought it. It was derelict. When I moved in the verandahs were not existent. The floorboards were rotten and white ant ridden, the turned posted were cut in half and a brick wall had been erected around the entire verandah. The windows on the north and south sides had been removed, and the back part of the house (and southern side) had been bastardised with asbestos. Most of the yard had been covered with gravel and asphalt or concrete with I removed and planted lots of trees. The house only looks good because of my work.

Here is a short video that summarises what I have been trying to say.

Yours sincerely.

Dr George Christos

200. The Bassendean Town Council. mail@bassendean.wa.gov.au
201. Ms Lauren Blackman, WA Ombudsman Office. mail@ombudsman.wa.gov.au
202. The Honourable Premier of WA, Mr Roger Cook, wa-government@dpc.wa.gov.au
203. Hon Simone McGurk, Minister for Heritage, etc., WA Government, Minister.McGurk@dpc.wa.gov.au
204. Hon. Hannah Beazley, Minister for Local Government, etc. Minister.Beazley@dpc.wa.gov.au
205. The West Australian Newspaper, Chief of Staff, cos@wanews.com.au