Greenlane Hospital loses heritage

Auckland District Health Board plans to demolish another historic building at Greenlane Hospital to make way for yet another carpark- upsetting a former patient and the Historic Places Trust.

David Cairns stayed at the old doctor's quarters known as Building 10 for nine months from 1994 while preparing for and recovering from a heart transplant, and says he knows it like the back of his hand. "It was built like Fort Knox and it had a tunnel going to the old Greenlane Hospital. It's not as old as the other buildings, but it's a charmer," he says.

The child care centre manager said the attractive 1926 building included detailed kauri woodwork and intricate tiling in the bathrooms. Billy T James stayed there for 10 months while waiting for his heart transplant in 1987.

Mr Cairns, 63, returned to the hospital in July for a checkup and was told by staff the building would be removed in January to make way for a carpark. "I thought: who's making these decisions? It's happening on the quiet."

He said once the building was gone the area would look like an airport with endless carparks. "When will Auckland realise it can't go on like this?"

Robin Byron, the Historic Places Trust's heritage adviser for architecture, said he was aware of the board's plans. "The building appears to be of heritage interest and it would be a concern to the Historic Places Trust if it were demolished. Its heritage values should be assessed before any decision is made about its future."

Civic Trust Auckland member Peter Macky said the board's track record on heritage had been appalling. "If what is essentially a Government department can't lead by example, in terms of good architecture, urban design and as a custodian of our heritage, what hope have we got as a community that these objectives will be promoted across our city?"

Even if a building was worthy of preservation, Aucklanders could not expect the board to preserve it. "In Auckland we are very good at destroying buildings given by benefactors, which would make any potential benefactor think twice."

Heritage advocate Helen Geary, who was part of the two-year battle to save Building 5 (see panel), said Building 10 was also of heritage interest and should at least be properly recorded. "In an ideal world it would be great to keep it because all heritage is significant, but it's on a hospital site and it's difficult to save everything."

She recommended the board photograph the interior and salvage the woodwork panelling, staircase and old fanlight windows.

She would be interested to hear of the board's plans for the three Category 1 listed buildings, in particular the Costley Home. "To my knowledge it's not being maintained and is neglected."

Board communications manager Mark Fenwick said the future needs of Aucklanders were at the "forefront of planning. We have identified the Greenlane Clinical Centre site as a key future-health services development site, offering a large area of flat land in a good location for developing new clinical facilities."

Keeping the option to build on the site was crucial and the board had the necessary consents to demolish Building 10 next year.

Auckland Council resource consents manager Heather Harris said because Building 10 is not protected, its removal is permitted. Car parking is also permitted under both the District Plan and Concept Plan for the site, provided it meets development controls. "This means that under our plans, Building 10 could be removed and used for parking without the need to obtain resource consent."

ROLL OF DISHONOUR

GREENLANE: Three other buildings were given Category 1 listing by the Historic Places Trust last year: the Costley Home for the Aged Poor, the Infirmary Ward for Incurables (also known as Building 5) and the hospital's main building. The board withdrew its demolition consent for Building 5 and its appeal against the former Auckland City Council's decision to register it as a category B heritage building. The board refused to rule out applying to replace it in the future.

GRAFTON: Heritage advocates cite a trail from destruction of the 87-year-old main building in 1964 and the Costley Building in the 1980s. The board is building a multi-storey carpark dominating our most sacred beauty spot - the Domain and War Memorial Museum.