Another historic home faces wrecking ball

19 Burwood Cres, on a clifftop in Remuera, belongs to former New Zealand cricketer Terry Jarvis. Picture / Greg Bowker

Former New Zealand cricketer Terry Jarvis has been given permission to demolish a clifftop home in Remuera earmarked for heritage protection by the Auckland City Council.

The $5.7 million property at 19 Burwood Cres, with magnificent views across Hobson Bay, was built in 1918. It was added to in the late 1920s by a well-known American architect, Roy Lippincott, who designed Smith & Caughey's Queen St store.

A modern house will replace the two-storey house at a later date.

The property is one of 16,300 homes in heritage suburbs earmarked for protection under sweeping changes introduced by the council last May. Demolition or removal of homes built before 1940 requires resource consent, which may be publicly notified.

At the time, Mayor Dick Hubbard said the changes would send the "strongest of signals that we are serious about protecting our heritage and neighbourhoods".

In the case of 19 Burwood Cres, the council agreed with a report by engineers Tonkin & Taylor that the house and the site were "unstable" and granted resource consent to demolish or remove the house on a non-notified basis.

Heritage campaigner Elsbeth Hardie, who has been fighting to save a two-storey villa at St Stephens Ave in Parnell, said she hoped the council had all the relevant information before allowing the house to be demolished.

"I wouldn't have thought the stabilisation issue was relevant because [the owner] has to do it whether there is a new house or not," she said.

Elsbeth Hardie said it was apparent with the demolition of a 100-year-old villa at Marine Parade in Herne Bay this month that the council did not have all the facts.

The council has admitted it was wrong to allow the demolition of the house in Marine Parade and promised to review its residential character zone consent procedures.

"The public has to be confident that the systems in place are rigorous and have the integrity to protect properties ... It needs to be done quite quickly or more of these properties will come under threat," Elsbeth Hardie said.

Tonkin & Taylor foundation engineer Peter Millar said 19 Burwood Cres was not in danger of falling down but to repair the foundations would require demolition and reconstruction of much of the house.

The council architectural planner who heard the application, Mike Watson, said in a report that removing the house would detract from the special character of the streetscape but the land's unstable nature would make restoration and renovation difficult.

"Although it is always a pity to remove buildings of this type, I believe that in this case it would be the safest thing to do," said Mr Watson, who also approved the demolition of 29 Marine Parade.

Mr Jarvis did not answer his cellphone yesterday.