Auckland neighbourhoods protected from development

The Herald asked heritage architect Adam Wild to examine the Auckland neighbourhood shopping centres which will be protected from development. Here are the eight "villages" selected by the council, and his comments.


Eden Valley (Dominion Rd)

The Eden Valley shopping centre grew up around the intersection of Valley, Dominion and Walters Rds in the 1880s and reached its peak in the 1920s and 1930s. It is focused on this intersection, which contains two-storeyed late Victorian and Edwardian buildings on three corners.

The shops from the 1920s and 1930s include a wide range of architectural styles from classical to art deco and Spanish mission.

The fairly consistent style achieved by 1930 has been subsequently weakened with the removal of buildings or groups of buildings.

Plans to widen Dominion Rd to increase traffic volumes fly in the face of the value of these character buildings. There are potential solutions of putting the roads behind the shops in hubs along Dominion Rd. Its priority seems to be somewhere else. It is not about people. The Rugby World Cup I'm sure will have a major influence on this part of Dominion Rd but we need to make sure the balance of all the pressures can be made in a sensible way.


Mt Eden Village

The village was established in the 1870s after some of the earliest rural and residential subdivisions in the area. The buildings demonstrate progressive development from the late 19th century, sparked in part by improved tram services.

At the height of traditional development in the 1920s and 1930s the centre provided most everyday services, supplies and entertainment for the surrounding suburb.

The village is strongly defined by its relationship to the volcanic cone Maungawhau, its winding road and the integration of housing and churches along Mt Eden Rd.

This is Auckland City's equivalent of Devonport in that it grew quickly, logically and richly with all the things that support a community. It sustains that today. It's popular, it's successful and it continues on. There is an incremental stepping up of buildings to the main intersection, which has always been important. However, there is the big conflict of traffic versus a town centre.


Ellerslie

The development of the racecourse, zoological gardens, intersection of the new railway with the highway to Panmure and Mt Wellington formed the core of what was to become the Ellerslie township in the late 19th century.

The township was fully evident by 1920 and continued sporadic but steady growth through to the 1940s. During this period, the establishment of Ellerslie Borough led to a number of quality buildings appearing to the east of the railway station.

The construction of the Southern Motorway in the 1950s effectively cut Ellerslie in two and reduced its status as a main shopping centre.

The town centre with its continuous facades and verandas creates a human scale development.

Ellerslie is a little different in that it falls off the ridgeline. Its focus has been exploded by the motorway through one of its lungs. We have got an important little town centre with some important character buildings that have survived very nicely.


Grey Lynn

This shopping centre was developed in the early decades of the 20th century along Great North Rd. The Arch Hill Hotel at the corner of Great North and Tuarangi Rds was built in the early 1880s and formed the commercial heart of the community. The shopping centre along Surrey Cres is defined by buildings of the 1920s and 1930s, generally two-storeyed brick or plaster. Some retain the original shop front and interior details. The location of houses, Grey Lynn Library, St Josephs Convent and Catholic Church close to the shops reinforces the area's character.

This is a marker on the old tramline to and from Auckland. It feels like a broader area than many of the other centres, not just because the streets are broad but because it has got a bit of depth to it. It goes in more than two directions. There is still some confusion about how places like this are developed. The likes of Foodtown are a big event for a community like this, but for lots of reasons its back turns itself on the heart of the community and its scale is squat and monolithic.


West Lynn

The West Lynn shopping precinct developed in the early decades of the 20th century along the ridgeline of Richmond Rd near the junction with Francis St and Hakanoa St. Significant periods of development took place between 1905 and 1915 and in the 1920s and 1930s. The precinct has associations with James Tattersfield, who ran a drapers business from Richmond Buildings and a large mattress-making business in nearby Sackville St, and the Warnock Bros, who ran a soap and candle making business at Coxs Creek.

The centre has developed an identity for organic health food, an organic butcher and homeopathic training. It has had a number of sympathetic developments to early commercial buildings.

Distinctive areas attract distinctive types and this is a good example of that with a rich and broad community. It is helped by the fact that the road that feeds it dives into the commercial district and then dives out again. New buildings are applying new design and materials that respond to the scale and density of the community.


Kingsland

Kingsland shopping centre was established on the ridge of New North Rd in the early 1880s following the opening of the Auckland-to-Helensville railway. The local station was located close to the junction of New North Rd and Cabbage Tree Swamp Rd - now Sandringham Rd - near one of the earliest buildings in the area, the Trinity Methodist Church.

Page's store, established in 1885, formed the commercial heart of the community. There was significant building around the turn of the 20th century and in the 1920s and the precinct shows this in the taste and design typical of these periods.

While Kingsland retains a number of several character-defining buildings, the area's feel has been lost in part through the pattern and quality of modern development, which is set back from the street, disrupting the traditional, consistent form.

Through places like Page's store and Cabbage Tree Swamp Rd you can sense the movement and growth that a little community like this has to tell. 
 

St Heliers

Originally planned as a seaside subdivision connected by a ferry service to the city, St Heliers reached a peak between 1915 and the 1930s before being subsumed by suburban development after the opening of Tamaki Drive in 1931.

The village is based on a grid pattern around St Heliers Bay Rd and the waterfront hosting a number of significant buildings from the 1920s and 1930s, and a small number from 1860 to 1920.

The village is now a mix of retail, commercial and restaurant/cafe premises along with a number of community facilities such as the library, War Memorial Hall and police station.

The distinctive Moreton Bay fig trees, Vellenoweth Green and residential and commercial development on the southern side of Tamaki Drive complement the seaside character.

Referring to the likes of the commercial/apartment block he is pictured in front of above, Adam Wild says: I think St Heliers has to be very careful about defining clearly what its objectives are.


Upper Symonds St

The Symonds St/Khyber Pass Rd junction started out as an early walking track that grew with the rapidly increasing population and tram improvements from the 1880s to 1910s. At its height in the 1920s and 1930s, Upper Symonds St serviced the surrounding suburbs. It retains a number of buildings from the 1880s to 1930s.

Key features of the Victorian buildings include brick construction with detailed plastered columns, verandas supported on posts, shopfronts with framed picture windows and recessed entries with timber shopfront joinery. The character of the area is reinforced by six scheduled buildings, including two churches, Grafton library and the pumphouse in Mt Eden Rd.

This is that city edge fringe, a place where things happen. A third of it has been decimated by the widening of roads and new buildings out of character with the area. The west side has survived with an interesting collection of buildings of the same scale from different periods.