Wellington Scoop and Local History
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Centenary of a landmark
- Wellington Scoop
- Originally called the de Luxe, the Embassy Theatre was one of the grandest picture theatres in New Zealand when it opened on 31 October 1924. Designed to be the primary focus of Courtenay Place, it remains an imposing Wellington landmark as it celebrates its centenary this week.
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Massey House – restored
- Wellington Scoop
- For mid-century architectural buffs, the refurbished and strengthened Massey House on Lambton Quay is really exciting. Opened in 1957, it was a building that projected New Zealand’s export-based prosperity in a modern world. Minister of Agriculture (later Prime Minister) Keith Holyoake was pictured looking out a top floor window from the Meat and Dairy Boards’ headquarters.
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Massey House, The Terrace, Lambton, Wellington Central, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Yellow stickered for its centenary
- Wellington Scoop
- The Wellington City Council is celebrating the centenary of the Embassy Theatre in Courtenay Place, at the same time as it is categorising the heritage cinema as “earthquake prone,” with yellow stickers which carry a confusion of conflicting messages.
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Shakespeare, cycling, tuna, and Aro Street
- Wellington Scoop
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Aro Valley, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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150 bedrooms – recycling the flats
- Wellington Scoop
- The Architectural Centre has written to the Minister for Housing Chris Bishop giving reasons for the retention and refurbishment of the Gordon Wilson Memorial Apartments on the Terrace. It says: “We acknowledge this is a critical time in the building’s future with your pending decision on whether to retain its heritage listing. Your decision will impact its retention.” The letter gives these reasons why the building should be retained and re-used.
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Gordon Wilson Flats, Maurice Terrace, Aro Valley, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6040, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Destroying our past
- Wellington Scoop
- Heritage is contested by many and loved by others. The Mayor and Councillor McNulty want it as just a political whim. They’ve written a letter to RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop asking for the power to remove heritage buildings from district plan rules by a simple Council majority vote. The letter says this request is “on behalf of the Wellington City Council,” though it was never discussed by councillors.
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Toomath’s Buildings, Ghuznee Street, Te Aro, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6040, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Getting rid of character
- Wellington Scoop
- Most Wellington campaigners in recent decades have fought to save the city’s unique character. So it was unusual to have a group saying it was delighted and stoked by the city council decision to reduce the city’s character areas. If the plan gets ministerial approval next month, it will however not be the first time that the council has presided over the destruction of character areas and streetscapes. Think of the regime of mayor Michael Fowler. An architect, he presided over the demolition of much of Lambton Quay’s heritage buildings.
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A biodiverse future for Gordon Wilson Flats
- Wellington Scoop
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Gordon Wilson Flats, Maurice Terrace, Aro Valley, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6040, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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They spent $31m, and it’s quake prone?
- Wellington Scoop
- What’s gone wrong at the St James? As you enter the restored and strengthened building, you are confronted by a warning from its owner, the Wellington City Council, which wants you to know that the beautiful theatre is earthquake prone. The theatre reopened this month after being closed since 2019 for strengthening and refurbishing.
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St James Theatre, 77, Courtenay Place, Te Aro, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Losing our heart
- Wellington Scoop
- Have I got this right? The Wellington City Council’s draft District Plan is proposing to remove the heritage listing protection of the heart of the city – Te Ngakau/Civic Centre, which is listed as a heritage area in the current District Plan. There’s also no regard for legal protection of the city’s two waterfront parks.
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Te Ngākau Civic Square, Te Aro, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Newtown’s streets of history
- Wellington Scoop
- As one of Wellington’s oldest suburbs, Newtown was initially undulating fields sloping to swampy ground ending up at the Basin Reserve. The Wellesley Block was advertised to settlers interested in a house with land. Mostly they’d come from dense tenements in the UK or slums in Te Aro.
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Newtown, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Conversion? No … demolition
- Wellington Scoop
- The number of its parishioners had shrunk to less than a score, so it was inevitable that this beautiful 1960s Brooklyn church would have to find a new use. But was demolition inevitable? Demolition wasn’t mentioned when the Modernist St Matthew’s Church, designed by leading Wellington architect Derek Wilson, was advertised for sale at the end of last year.
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St Matthew's Cooperating Church / Co-operating Parish, 96, Washington Avenue, Mitchelltown, Vogeltown, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6021, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Saving (or demolishing) a 19th century landmark
- Wellington Scoop
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Newtown, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Defending the streets of Newtown
- Wellington Scoop
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Newtown, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Saving a hall and its history
- Wellington Scoop
- The Titahi Bay Marines Hall, built in 1942 as a recreational hall for US soldiers stationed in New Zealand during World War II, has stood empty since 2012 due to structural issues.
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Titahi Bay, Porirua, Porirua City, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Demolishing our heritage
- Wellington Scoop
- Victoria University is refusing to accept the importance of the Gordon Wilson Flats on The Terrace.
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Gordon Wilson flats, 314, The Terrace, Aro Valley, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6145, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Closed and empty: time to reopen a significant city building
- Wellington Scoop
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Turnbull House, 11, Bowen Street, Wellington Central, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6145, New Zealand/Aotearoa
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The scandal of the Town Hall – closed for eight years? Or worse?
- Wellington Scoop
- Wellington’s Town Hall is under serious threat of eventual demolition. And in any case, according to the timetable received by councillors it is to be closed for at least eight years. The issue is not that it should be opened immediately but that strengthening should be immediately continued without delay.
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Wellington Town Hall, Civic Square, Te Aro, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand/Aotearoa
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Rex is right about the Town Hall
- Wellington Scoop
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Wellington Town Hall, Civic Square, Te Aro, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand/Aotearoa
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Saving the Town Hall, and more great ideas
- Wellington Scoop
- Our city councillors have this week been reviewing their eight great ideas, as part of the debate on their long-term plan. A longer runway and a convention centre have stayed on their list. But Ian Apperley reports that some new items have emerged and others have disappeared.
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Wellington Town Hall, Civic Square, Te Aro, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6011, New Zealand/Aotearoa
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One saves, the other wants to demolish
- Wellington Scoop
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Inglewood Place, Te Aro, Wellington, Wellington Region, 6011, New Zealand
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The heritage of the Quay – real, or fake?
- Wellington Scoop
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Grey Street, Wellington Central, Wellington, Wellington Region, 6011, New Zealand
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Matangi: milestone or mistake?
- Wellington Scoop
- Another milestone was reached in Wellington’s electric transport history on 19 March when the venerable English Electric EMUs retired from their 74-year-old career shuttling commuters up and down the 10km Johnsonville Line.
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Farewell to Fred’s
- Wellington Scoop
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46 Frederick Street, Wellington
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The season for demolition
- Wellington Scoop
- Christmas seems to be a time for demolition – when most people are too distracted to be concerned about what their city is losing. This demolition opposite the Basin Reserve has just been carried out for the NZ Transport Agency, in preparation for the flyover that it wants to impose on the neighbourhood. In Brooklyn, this landmark building will soon be gone. No one wanted to strengthen it.
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Basin Reserve, Dufferin Street, Mount Victoria, Wellington, Wellington City, Wellington, 6021, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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Protecting heritage values on Mt Victoria
- Wellington Scoop
- It has been a busy year for the Mt Victoria Residents Association. One of our objectives is to protect the heritage value of Mt Victoria. This does not mean that we advocate the return of the outside privy or petition against the renovation of your kitchen or other rooms. But it does mean we try to prevent the look of Mount Victoria being spoiled by a mishmash of new buildings.
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Mt. Victoria, Wellington, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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The birth of the film festival
- Wellington Scoop
- The annual Wellington Film Festival, which opens today for its 40th anniversary year, was born out of the film society movement. In 1970 when I was elected president of the Wellington Film Society, I was also programmer for New Zealand’s 50 film societies. (I was a television journalist with plenty of spare time for extra activities.) For the film societies, I had to organise an annual season of films, all to be screened from 16mm prints. But many new titles were available only on 35mm prints, and in those days film societies didn’t have access to 35mm projection.
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Too much information, too much money
- Wellington Scoop
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Transmission Gully Motorway, Kenepuru, Porirua, Porirua City, Wellington, 5022, New Zealand (OpenStreetMap)
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