Situated in Croydon, in the Inner West of Sydney, The Strand is a unique, exceptionally preserved Federation-era high street. Originally constructed in 1909 as the commercial area of the Malvern Hill Estate, this distinctive street features a row of Canary Island palm trees down the centre with charming period shopfronts either side.
Since the initial announcement of the Transport Oriented Development (TOD) scheme, the National Trust has been focusing on this particular location as a heritage precinct under serious threat. In our submission dated February 2024, the National Trust noted:
‘The Strand – Sydney’s best preserved Federation shopping street, and the adjacent conservation area, will be completely destroyed by the TOD proposal, while Burwood (one station west) has been the focus of most recent development and community infrastructure and is not identified in the TOD program at all.’
Recently, the National Trust submitted a letter of support for a planning proposal by Burwood Council to list The Strand as a local group heritage item by amending Schedule 5 and the Heritage Map in the Burwood Local Environment Plan 2012. While The Strand is located in a Heritage Conservation Area, formal listing as a heritage item will afford this historic streetscape enhanced heritage protection under planning legislation.
The National Trust agrees with the most recent heritage assessment report by GML Heritage that states:
‘The Strand, Croydon meets the threshold for heritage listing under the historic, associative, aesthetic, social, representative and rare criterion of the NSW Heritage Assessment Criteria. These attributes are contributory to, but distinct from, the values of the Malvern Hill HCA as a whole.”
The National Trust will continue to advocate for the conservation of this distinctive feature of our urban landscape.
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