Black and White a Disgrace

[Ray]

For those who do not live in the district, I am happy to report that at long last there is some action at the old Black and White. For nearly two weeks now, a local builder has been repairing the façade of the building. Unfortunately I have not as yet had time to speak with him to get the details, but I am told by a normally reliable source that Mr D. Cook the monumental mason from Balaklava has got approval to go on with his plans for a shop front here in Jamestown.

It appears that the façade of the building is to remain and the remaining structure is to be demolished as it is past economic repair, due to damage done by previous owners. I presume that the bulk of this rubble will be used to fill the two cellars then a new floor will be put in place and new walls and roof fabricated.

Progress photos to follow shortly.

[Ray]

Work has been progressing slowly but surely on the Old "Black and White" Cafe site, and although the builder was no there this morning the progress is noticeable with much of the façade now having been trepaired, cleaned had a coat of paint. Fron the paintwork, it looks as if it will be used as two separate premises.



Still not great, but looking much better than it has in years, and no doubt it will be vastly improved with the addition of a new verandah, another door and the removal of all the scaffolding etc.

[utegirl70]

Wow, what a difference. Still hard to believe it's the same place eh?

[Ray]

Well,... I've been wanting to say something on this subject for nearly a month now, as that is about how long it is since we started to see some activity at the old Black and White site. However every time i was about to make a start, the activity stopped. This has happened several times now and i don't really know what is going on except that the owner has hired a local builder to start renovations.

I have been told that the verandah is to be replaced, so I'm hoping that it will be done in the same style as the one that was removed and not some modern cantilever monstrosity that would be completely out of character with the old building.



The two photos above show the progress made between the 12th and 21st of August.

You might think that it does not look like much, but believe me the builder spent several very damp and uncomfortable days up on the scaffolding inspecting and replacing all of the old glass in the top panels , as well as securing much of the top work of the façade. The sheets of glass that were removed were old and about 8mm thick which made them very heavy and dangerous to move. This was all completed quickly and without any damage to either the glass or those involved in carrying out the work. The masonry was then stripped of all of it's old paintwork and re painted.

Things seem to have come to a halt for a few days again, but hopefully it will continue shortly. There is still  a huge amount of work to be done inside. This has been started in a small way, in that the Cellar has been cleaned out,  some of the old electrical wiring stripped out and a small amount of rubbish removed.  Things are hastening slowly,.. let's just hope that they continue to move forward.

[hatchbackgirl75]

You need a current photo. Those ones don't show the painted trim.

Although any photo from the last 3 months will do, things seem to have stalled again ...

[Ray]

How right you are. I only thought the same thing a week or so ago as we drove past.

I have not had a look inside since the door was last open, but I did notice that the cellar had been cleaned out of several loads of pigeon poo.

It might be time to start asking a few questions again.

[Ray]

It looks like this project has come to a stop again.  There has been nothing done for about 3 months that I can see, I am off to Adelaide later today and don't expect to be back until tomorrow, but when I return I might have to have a bit of a "nosey".

Although it has been painted, and the pigeon poo cleaned out of the cellar, I don't think that anything has been done to the structure to make it any more usable. It looks to me like it's just been given the bare minimum of highly visible work to shut people up and then left at that. Still no verandah.

[Susie]

Hey Ray,  Don't know if you've been down the street, but it looks like some action happening at the B & W.  A "new/clear" glass window on the eastern side.  Didn't have time to stop and look.  Just noticed as I was passing lunch time yesterday.

[Ray]

G'Day Suzie, thanks for the heads up on our most noted building project.

Naaahh,  It's not a clean glass window that you saw, but a display for Justine Reynolds who is a salesperson for Brock Real Estate in Jamestown.



It's perhaps not what we had hoped, but I must say that it is an improvement on the old flaking whited out windows.  While I was there I took a squint in through the scratches on the white out and could see very little in the way of improvement on the inside.