2004 for New Zealanders: Margot McRae

Margot McRae

For Margot McRae, it has been the year of "demolition by stealth". The Devonport Heritage campaigner is talking about two cases this year of historic houses being knocked down to make way for multimillion-dollar mansions - in a protected heritage zone where demolition is supposedly not allowed.

"Yes, it's been bad, very, very bad," McRae says. "People have been able to cleverly manipulate the rules. And what is so disturbing is that the council is so gutless that it's really done nothing to stop them and these people have basically got away with it."

The voluntary organisation detected a change of attitude towards heritage values at the beginning of the year when monitoring non-consent work on 36 King Edward Parade, a Category B listed building. The North Shore City Council seemed powerless to act while the owner applied for retrospective resource consent for the changes made, which include aluminium windows, plate glass and altered cladding.

But that was nothing compared to 2 Buchanan St - owned by knitwear designer Caroline Sills and her husband, Lloyd. The prime waterfront location, considered the gateway to Devonport's heritage zone, was previously the subject of a demolition application that was turned down. But that impediment was overcome by getting resource consent for "alterations" and tearing down the 1886 villa - once the home of the first mayor of Devonport - from the inside out, leaving just two bay windows from the original house.

Where once stood more than 100 years of history - admittedly in a poor state of repair and with some jarring adornments from the 70s - now stands a squat-roofed, mock colonial house.

As a councillor commented at the time: "Looking at a Disneyland of replica old houses is simply not the same as having genuinely old houses."

McRae argues that most people in Devonport appreciate the area's history and character, as evidenced by the group's Heritage Night - "Restore not Destroy" - held in the middle of the year and attended by 300 people.

"We had been fairly confident that people in Devonport were doing the best they could to fit houses into heritage and to do things in a compatible way."

But all that changed with the demolition-by-alteration of the Sills house. "We were terribly concerned that it would set a precedent - that people would say, 'Why are we bothering to do something with this old house when we could knock it over'."

The conservation group's worst fears were realised in September when a 1920s art-and-craft cottage owned by Nick Topp and Wendy Norwood at 22a Jubilee Ave on North Head was reduced to a pile of rubble, with only one wall left standing. Once again the council had given its consent for the "alterations".

Both demolitions were vigorously debated in a Devonport paper, The Flagstaff.

"It's brought the whole issue out and it's made people realise what we've got, and what we have to hold on to, and that we have to fight harder," McRae says.

But as a voluntary organisation with little money McRae recognises that Devonport Heritage has an uphill battle.

Options this year include fundraising for bringing actions in the Environment Court - something the group wishes the council had the backbone to do.

The organisation also hopes to get together with other like-minded groups in Parnell and Herne Bay, where historic homes have also been demolished or removed.

Meanwhile, it will continue to be a thorn in the council's side and has taken some heart from the council's recognition that it needs to urgently address district plan heritage zoning concerns.

The group is represented on the Devonport Working Party looking into the matter.

"In Devonport we have a living history in that we've got old houses that have been lived in and worked in and used. It is unique - a living historic environment.

"People say, 'Oh yes but they're only about 100 years old.' But that's all the history we've got. It's precious."