A STAINED glass window with an unbroken link to Queanbeyan and Canberra’s past has been re-located from a soon-to-be demolished post war block of flats in Rutledge Street.

The large oval-shaped stained glass window, associated with the work of well-known Canberra architect Ken Oliphant, was removed from the facade of Number 10 Rutledge Street last week.

The council-owned building, which served as a block of flats but was originally built as the Cranswick family home, is being bulldozed to create access to a carpark for Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council’s $74 million Queanbeyan Civic and Cultural Precinct (QCCP).

The building’s demise has become a point of contention among some locals who took to social media recently to express their concern about the loss of a local landmark.

Although 10 Rutledge Street is not heritage listed, council says the building’s stained glass window holds “significance” and will be re-homed at the Queanbeyan Museum.

According to a QPRC spokesperson, the stained glass window originally took pride of place in Wilfred and Katherine Cranswick’s Isabella Street home, which was designed by the well-known Canberra architect Ken Oliphant, but the window was later re-located when the family moved to their new home at 10 Rutledge Street.

“Wilfred Cranswick was a local business man with a wool and hardware store in Monaro Street from mid 1930s to mid 1950s, he died in 1962,” the QPRC spokesperson says.

“Katherine Cranswick died in 1987 and the window was a tribute to Mrs Cranswick’s mother, Annie H Macvie.”

The QPRC spokesperson added that whilst the Heritage Advisory Committee didn’t deem 10 Rutledge Street “historically significant” the window, which bears the inscription “AHM 1936”, was “significant” because of its association with the architect Ken Oliphant.

Oliphant was the first privately practising architect in Canberra. Many of his early designs were in the Forrest and Red Hill area in a variety of styles, including Mediterranean and tudor.

Although 10 Rutledge Street — which was built on the site of a former cordial factory demolished in the late 1940s  — is being sacrificed for the new QCCP, a number of heritage-listed buildings in the vicinity of the development are being preserved including the old Fire Station, Dutton’s Cottage and the former School of Arts building — the current Council chambers — on Crawford Street.

Preparation work for the demolition on 10 Rutledge Street is currently underway.

Council’s $74 million QCCP will include a new head office for council staff, a new Queanbeyan library, government offices and commercial office space as well as community spaces and a public domain.