Town says no to wrecking hall

"Have you come to demolish it?" an elderly man asks a truck driver who's pulled up outside the dilapidated building. The hub of the town and its surrounding district for 100 years, the old hall has been locked and shuttered since March, deemed so run-down it's unsafe for use.

Graeme North, architect and chairman of the Warkworth Town Hall Advisory Committee, stands on the steps and shakes his head.

"I'm surprised at how shabby it's looking since I last saw it."

He points out blistered blue paint on the main doors. Fading posters advertising zumba, ceroc and tai chi classes cling to the windows, evidence of its popularity.

For a century the hall has hosted performances, dances, movies, weddings and school balls.

"It's been an enormously well-used building," says Mr North. And although he admits it's not attractive, he says its Historic Places Trust rating - category one - coupled with its service to the town - makes it deserving of salvation.

"It may not be a pretty building. It's not a great work of architectural wonder, but it's a historic building. It's an important building. Heritage comes warts and all," he says of the odd fusion of styles and eras.

The building's original section was constructed in 1911 using R.O. Clark's patented Glazed Hollow Building Blocks. In 1937, an Art Deco facade was added to the Alnwick St side. In 1971, what Mr North describes as "an unfortunate addition" was attached.

"I moved here 19 years ago and it's been an ongoing issue. It's been very frustrating for some people. There's a lot of disappointment in the old council."

Since 1993, reports have recommended remedial work to the hall, then owned by the disbanded Rodney District Council. Council minutes show repeated requests from local people to have the hall's refurbishment listed on the council's annual plan.

But former Mayor Penny Webster, now Auckland councillor for the district, says the community has long been divided on the hall's future and attention had turned to a building planned for the riverbank.

"As much as we got submissions for [saving the town hall], we got as many to say it should be demolished. There was an attempt to build a new centre and the [former] council was going to put in funds to match what was raised.

"But the trust wasn't able to raise the money in time and the agreement became null and void when we went to Auckland Council," Ms Webster says.

The hall would probably have been demolished but it was a category one building, she adds.

After it was deemed unfit, the new Rodney Local Board sought opinions in the community. Most favoured restoring heritage features and upgrading the hall as a multipurpose community centre so larger scale shows could be brought to the area. Estimated cost: $5 million.

But 18 per cent of voters - almost one in five - backed demolition.

"It's the vehemence of some people towards it that surprises me," says Mr North of locals who want the building destroyed. "But it's been semi-derelict for so long. Not being maintained for 20 years doesn't do a building any favours."

Permits and possible appeals mean demolition would be a huge undertaking for a category one building.

"I don't think people appreciate how difficult it would be," he suggests.

Local Board member Brenda Steele says the board is now awaiting the council's response on funding restoration and reworking the hall.

"If the governing body don't support the Local Board in this proposal we are going to have a building falling down in front of us. It's going to be a blimmin' eyesore for a township that's marked as being a satellite town in the new Auckland."

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