Things aren't looking great for the fate of St Kilda's queer icon – but there is still hope.
Back in January, the Greyhound Hotel – often known as the GH Hotel – announced that they would no longer be open for business, following the news that developers had lodged an application to Port Phillip Council for an eight-storey apartment block to be built on the site of the 163-year-old venue. Despite the fact that the council then rejected the application, the owners have appealed to the state planning tribunal, and hold a demolition permit that they could implement at any time.
So, is there anything that can be done to change the fate of the Greyhound Hotel? The final glimmer of hope lies with Planning Minister Richard Wynne, who Port Phillip Council have petitioned to apply a temporary heritage overlay to the venue while work is done to secure its status as a permanently heritage-listed site. While the building itself might have changed significantly since it first opened in 1853, heritage consultants Context are focusing on the venue's importance in relation to Melbourne's queer culture over the last few decades.
"This really is a race against time to save the Greyhound," Mayor Bernadene Voss told The Age. "Demolition could be imminent."
This news comes just weeks after Port Melbourne's 150-year-old London Hotel was bulldozed. To make your voice count in the battle to save the Greyhound Hotel, check out the change.org petition or consider writing a letter to Planning Minister Richard Wynne.