“The Canterbury Pool has an aesthetic significance for its austere international modernist style,” says the National Trust listing,noting the way that austerity is softened with grassy gardens,figs and palm trees.
The pool has been neglected in recent years,first because it faced closure,and then because it awaited redevelopment. The concrete is buckling. The grandstand is rusting. Those “intact and increasingly rare” mid-century features have been left to slowly fall apart.
On February 1,it will shut. The wrecking ball will come to flatten the site and build a brand new aquatic centre in its place. It will cost $45 million. It will look just like every other aquatic centre.
An upgrade was sorely needed;thousands of people are expected to move into the area over the next decade. But doing it in a way that would preserve the pool’s heritage – which was done atAuburn’s Ruth Everuss Aquatic Centre,for example – was never an option put to residents.
The pool is one of the last of its kind in the area. The vintage pools at Marrickville,Petersham and Ashfield have all been replaced. Over on the other side of the harbour,North Sydney pool is losing all but a few elements of its art decosplendour in its troubled revamp. Parramatta’s War Memorial pool has been destroyed.
We look at pictures of old Sydney with sadness about the heritage we’ve lost. Webemoan the decisions of our forebears. Yet we continue to throw it away.