Historic decisions : the events leading to the definitive decision to retain 2 inner city Wellington commercial buildings of historical interest

Abstract

The almost total renewal of downtown Wellington has left few architectural reminders of the past. Those that remain in 1986 have almost all been under the developers' scrutiny, and only remain today (almost invariably in renovated form) because of a favourable judgement by property owners and consultants, or else because of the actions of interest groups such as the Historic Places Trust, and City Council. My objectives in pursuing this topic, were to try to gain some insight into the "mechanisms" that ultimately resulted in retention of historic commercial buildings. These objectives have dictated the choice of case studies presented, and the emphasis given to them. I have selected two of the earliest successful retention examples in Wellington; the Public Trust building, and the AMP Branch Office building [by choosing early examples I hoped that critical issues relating to retention would be more clearly emphasised]. The AMP case study represents a successful "internalised" process where the property owner voluntarily undertook retention. This retention mechanism was very different for the Public Trust case. Extensive lobbying by "external" interest groups was required in order to effect retention given an unwilling owner. Discussion of these two case studies deals (as the title suggests) primarily with the events leading up to the final, definitive decision to retain each building, highlighting the issues raised during retention - not the method of refurbishment.