Italian Forum: Right neighbourly,
Cover story
Developers are trying to rebuild our lost sense of community. Tim Elliott looks at how well they're doing. If you live in an apartment block and all you know about your neighbours is the number on their front door, then modern architecture has a concept to rock your (very private) world. It's called community.These days it is not enough for an aspiring architect to build a block of flats he or she has to create a community. Likewise, marketers are at pains to stress...
Italian Forum: Rags to riches,
Cover story
People who bought in Leichhardt 15 years ago have made a tidy profit. Kirsty McKenzie considers why, and the impact on neighbouring suburbs. Will Upjohn doesn't have a career, he has a life. The English-born actor, sculptor and owner/builder says it's ironic that pursuing that life has earned him more money than any job in a suit ever could. And it could have happened only in Leichhardt.Having had a windfall with a few television commercials in the early 1980s,...
Italian Forum: Close to Rome
I'm having a love affair. It's all right, my wife knows. It's with a place, or, to be more precise, a piazza, in Leichhardt, the Italian Forum. I've already written about it here, but I discovered something more about it. Imagine if you fell in love with someone for the way they made you feel, the way they looked, then you discovered they could cook like an angel. What a bonus. I'm talking about Dante, the main restaurant on the piazza...
Italian Forum: Standoff at Forum deplored
BOOKS are still not on the shelves of the allocated library space at the Italian Forum and council has resolved to consider its options. For almost three years Leichhardt council has been locked in negotiations with Italian Forum owners Chase about the library's fitout.At last week's meeting Councillor Hall Greenland proposed the Italian Forum space be sold and plans for a new library be built behind the Leichhardt Town Hall.He suggested this be advertised and...
Italian Forum: Adding a touch of Italy
A COLOSSAL Italian Forum-style development has been proposed for land opposite Callan Park. The proposal, which is five times bigger than usual residential developments, is one of three options put forward by the Roche Group for the site at 469-483 Balmain Rd, Lilyfield.``The design for the site has been inspired by a number of Italian cities where a central piazza provides communal and public open space for residents, neighbours and visitors,'' Leichhardt Council...