Welcome to Part III in our current "Never Built" series. This week, we head to Watsons Bay where Goldberger and Kauffman Finance and Building Enterprises proposed an eighteen level or 59 metre tall hotel tower at The Gap. The hotel would contain 190 rooms and the top floor would be designated for a restaurant which promised sweeping views of the ocean and city.
If built, this tower would have been located at the main shopping strip of the suburb at the corner of Military and Gap roads.
Source: Anon. 1964. "18-storey Hotel For The Gap". The Sydney Morning Herald, October 16:12.
The concept appears great as the hotel would have offered some of the most panoramic ocean views that any Sydney hotel could offer given its proximity to the coast line but also the elevation of the site which could be as high as forty metres. It would be on the recommended list of hotels to stay in Sydney, even today.
Even if converted into apartments in later years, the views afforded would have been the same and we would be talking about it being one of the best addressees in Sydney.
But the concern with the scheme was the height with nothing over two storeys and this would have dramatically altered the character of Watsons Bay altogether but having nothing tall in the area was part of the business case for the hotel. Highrise is not part of the urban landscape in Watsons Bay.
Such a proposal would not get off the ground at all. Add heritage matters to the list of reasons why a hotel could not be built.
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