Sydney Morning Herald: The NSW government is under growing pressure to reconsider its plan to move the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta and sell off its inner-city Sydney site to property developers.

Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton, former NSW premier Bob Carr, businessmen Geoff Cousins, Graeme Wood, Trevor Kennedy and Jack Cowin, former Art Gallery of NSW director Edmund Capon and Penelope Seidler are among more than 170 prominent people who have signed an open letter to be published in Thursday’s Sydney Morning Herald with the heading “Please Don’t Destroy the Powerhouse”.

The letter describes the proposal to move the Powerhouse as “folly” and argues that the community’s investment in the museum’s Ultimo site will be wasted if the site is sold to developers.

The letter describes the Powerhouse’s present site in Ultimo as a “world class museum” with a building and exhibitions that have won many awards.

“The project was a major investment for the people of New South Wales,” the letter states. “That investment will be squandered if the museum’s site is sold to developers.”

The letter’s signatories say they support the building of a major new museum in Parramatta, “but to transport a pared-back, small scale Powerhouse would be folly”.

The signatories, who also include museum experts and architects, argue instead for a unique institution in Parramatta shaped by community consultation and which reflects the history, achievements and cultural diversity of western Sydney.

Continue reading this story on the Sydney Morning Herald website.

Featured photograph by Fatemeh/Flickr.