From Three Kings Park, Garth Houltham looks at a locked white stucco building next to a muddy, closed football field. When Mt Roskill was an independent borough with its own mayor, council and coat of arms, this was its municipal headquarters.
"It's not the most attractive of buildings," admits Houltham, president of the Puketapapa Historical Society. The building lacks the charm and character of century-old counterparts around Auckland. The surroundings do it no favours, either: concrete acres of carpark at the corner of Mt Eden and Mt Albert roads.
Nevertheless, Houltham is passionate about the building and is on a mission to save it. "It's history," he explains. "We don't have a lot of historical buildings, but what we've got we're determined to preserve."
The building was closed in January when a toxin-producing fungus - black mould - rendered it unusable.
Its history reflects the area: it was largely farmland until after World WarII.
Mt Roskill became a separate borough in 1947 and the proud young council built its headquarters in 1957 on a reserve that way back in 1885 had been designated a municipal pound and the site for offices.
When the suburb was amalgamated with Auckland City in 1989, the new council used the building as Metrowater's base until another new council took over in 2010 when council departments and the new Puketapapa Local Board moved in.
"It is Roskill-Puketapapa. It is the physical symbol of what makes our community what it is today," says Houltham.
Michael Wood, the Puketapapa Local Board member looking after heritage, says rectifying the black mould requires significant expense. He adds that the whole board supports saving the building.
"We want to ensure that in any consideration to be made towards the building's future, the heritage perspective be considered," he says.
Auckland Council property manager Ian Wheeler says the building's heritage status will be considered.
"The options range from the full reinstatement of the current building layout, right through to the partial demolition and re-establishment of the original dimensions.
"Black mould has been found throughout the building and will be completely eliminated as part of initial works for the chosen rebuild option," he says.
It is too early to estimate what it will cost to repair or replace the building.
"The issue at Mt Roskill is that heritage has had a pretty low profile over the years and there are only about five scheduled protected buildings across the whole area," says Mr Wood, explaining that while it's a relatively young suburb, some sites are historically important.
Unfortunately, much has been lost. "There is real history here. Sometimes you just have to look for it," he says.
Homework in History
Puketapapa Local Board has set aside $150,000 for a three-year heritage survey, ahead of deciding which building should be protected. "That amount would go towards a comprehensive stocktake of the area. That will go towards identifying the sites of historic importance so we can properly understand what sites might require protection and get a really good base of information," says Mr Wood.
The board is looking at putting up signage in the community. " We are also looking at other ways we can protect our heritage. One of the other things we are looking to do is putting resource in historical interpretative signage around the community so people can understand the importance of certain buildings and really understand the history."
The Local Board is eyeing a number of buildings for protection but needs to do its homework first.
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