Same builder, wrong place

By Bob Dey

Camp Bunn corrections came thick and fast on Monday after last week's Weekend Property story placed Sylvia Park on the Camp Bunn site in Panmure.

They both had origins in United States military prefabricated construction, but Sylvia Park - where Kiwi Income Property Trust plans to build a mixed-use town centre - is on Mt Wellington Highway and beside the Southern Motorway. Camp Bunn was on the other side of Panmure, on Pilkington Rd.

Graeme McDermott, of New Lynn, writes that "Sylvia Park, built by the Yanks in about 10 minutes in 1942-43 is not Camp Bunn. Camp Bunn is another complex on the main trunk line at Tamaki station, between Panmure and Glen Innes, and houses among other things Furniture World.

"It was amazing how fast the Yanks could build things. There grew up a saying that if the Yanks and the Kiwis started to build identical structures, by the time the Kiwis finished theirs the Yanks would be evicting tenants for arrears of rent."

The two properties were among many around Auckland where American forces quickly erected large buildings.

Another writer says the Camp Bunn accommodation area was used post-war by the State Advances Corporation as temporary or transit housing for urgent cases waiting on a vacant state house and was demolished in the 70s.

Post-war, too, the Americans' picture theatre became a public cinema on Saturdays - 3d entry fee.

The sheds on the north side of Tamaki Station Rd were occupied by Lines Bros for their Triang and Pedigree toys.