Landmark living

The New Zealand Guardian Trust building in Auckland's Queen St could be your next home, as VICKI HOLDER reports.

Built between 1914 and 1918, the New Zealand Guardian Trust building was once the head office for the New Zealand insurance company.

It was designed by architect William Gummer of the renowned Gummer Ford Architects to exude an air of solidity and prosperity. Today, the building is one of Auckland's most significant historic, architectural landmarks.

For many years it housed various NZI business operations and other professional offices. Now its lower Queen St location, in the heart of Auckland's CBD, beckons a major re-development that will bring a vibrant new lease of life to this area of the city.

Greg Wilkinson, of Wilkinson Property Group, will work in partnership with Brent Hulena, of Hulena Co Architects, to develop inner-city living spaces in the building for modern apartment dwellers. Other developments the pair have completed together include the Sebel Hotel in the Viaduct Harbour and the New York-style Met and Soho apartments in the hub of Auckland.

Hulena will be responsible for rejuvenating the Guardian Trust Building by developing six floors of New York-style apartments, while restoring and enhancing traditional features.

The beautiful facade, featuring enormous pillars cloaked in bronze bearing the NZI insignia, will remain. Residents will enter through the grand, original foyer with terrazzo floors and walls lined with grey Kairuru marble. They will access their apartments by using the old, timber-panelled lifts or the ornate spiral stairs flanked with a swirling, wrought-iron balustrade.

The studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, which were launched on August 3, are selling quickly - around 85 of the 137 have been bought. A good proportion have sold to investors, as well as young professional couples and business people wanting a convenient place to stay close to where they work.

A surprising number of buyers have said they would never have considered living in an apartment before. Yet they see the Guardian Trust building as more than just purchasing somewhere to live. They feel they are buying a piece of New Zealand's history. A few have some kind of emotional attachment with the old building - such as they used to work there or some couples met while they worked there.

Given the building was not purpose-built for apartments, it contains a wide choice of apartments and a diverse range of sizes and configurations. The larger one-bedroom apartments at the front enjoy the busy atmosphere of Queen St, where residents can sit and watch the world go by through the large, original windows.

Those at the back soak up the north-western sun and overlook Mills Lane. The internal apartments gain natural light from light wells in the centre of the building.

All of them benefit from the splendid proportions of the original building, with high studs throughout adding a lovely sense of space.

Because the apartments are so well-located among the city's many cafes and restaurants, the compact kitchens - tucked along the wall of the open-plan living areas - are not expected to get a heavy work-out. The larger one-bedroom designs feature full kitchens with European stainless-steel ovens, dishwashers and fridges and sleek, silver laminate cabinetry. Others don't have a dishwasher.

Aluminium-framed, acrylic cavity sliders retract from the front corner of the bedrooms and disappear into walls to extend the living space for entertaining.

Laundry facilities - a washing machine and drier - are included in the bathrooms, which have quality vitreous porcelain fittings and timber lookalike laminate floors.

Whether you're after a city bolthole or something a little larger and more permanent, the Guardian is a fashionable address that couldn't be more convenient.

Vital statistics:

ADDRESS: Guardian, 105 Queen St, Auckland.

FEATURES: New York-style apartments in character-filled historic building at the bottom of Queen St; lifts and stairs; building manager; good security through electronic entry at night; high stud; open-plan living; separate bathroom with laundry facilities.

SIZE: Studios around 20sq m; one bedrooms from 33sq m to 40sq m; one bedroom plus study up to 47sq m, two bedrooms around 44sq m.

PRICE: From $95,000 to $205,000.

AGENT: Nicola Bull, Blair Watson and Matt Baird, Kellands Real Estate. Ph 302 2209 bus; Nicola 027 477 4667 mob; Blair 025 502 929 mob; Matt 021 831 001 mob.