City saves McLaren legacy

Jan McLaren in the upstairs museum dedicated to the motorsport career of her brother Bruce. Picture / Martin Sykes

The Remuera service station where racing legend Bruce McLaren grew up and learned to hurtle around shop corners on two wheels of a tricycle has been added to the list of heritage buildings in Auckland City.

McLaren spent his first 10 years living above the garage and service station on Remuera Rd, which his father bought in 1936 after driving petrol tankers.

The 1926 building still operates as a service station and garage, and upstairs is a museum full of photographs, trophies and other memorabilia celebrating his career.

McLaren was a brilliant driver, with vision that extended far beyond the driver's seat. He became the engineer, the inventor, the constructor, the tester - and the team he founded in 1963 became one of the greatest in motor-racing history.

His name lives on today in Formula One's Team McLaren Mercedes.

His younger sister, Jan McLaren, runs the Bruce McLaren Trust from one of the old family rooms.

She said the trust was delighted to save the link to her brother, who died while testing a CanAm racing car in 1970, but also pleased to save the only working service station of its vintage in Auckland.

"Virtually nothing has been done to the service station since 1926. Parts of it are very original, including the wiring," she quipped.

Conservation architect Adam Wild, of Archifact, said the service station was not a great piece of architecture but it was an example of how buildings could become "cultural markers" for New Zealanders of international standing.

Another early service station, the Britomart service station on Customs St East, built in 1923-24, is due to be demolished for a carpark.

The Remuera Rd building was designed by architect E. Rupert Morton in the 1920s Californian Spanish mission style.

It is one of four to begin the process of gaining category B heritage status.

The public have until August 22 to make submissions on the proposed plan change to protect the buildings.

Last month, the council began a separate plan change for category B heritage status on seven buildings and category A status on Newman Hall in Waterloo Quadrant.

The chairwoman of the council's environment, heritage and urban form committee, Christine Caughey, said the two plan changes were a response to a heritage review that drew more than 900 submissions.

Category B protection means building owners need to obtain a resource consent before they can demolish or remove a building. Category A buildings cannot be demolished or removed.

The council is celebrating Heritage Week for the second consecutive year between September 12 and September 18.

Events will include behind-the-scenes tours of the Auckland Museum, the Auckland Art Gallery and the Civic Theatre, guided tours and open days at heritage homes.

Historic buildings

* The Remuera service station is one of four buildings to begin the process of gaining category B heritage status. The others:
* The Strand Tavern at the bottom of Parnell Rise, formerly the Swan Hotel and one of Auckland's earliest surviving pubs, built in 1855-58.
* The 1906 "George Kent and Sons Bakery" two-storey brick building in Osborne St, Newmarket. The bakery was one of Newmarket's longest-running and most successful business and is now an arcade.
* The 1922-1923 Kent's building on the corner of Khyber Pass Rd and Osborne St, Newmarket, valued for its street appeal.