4 minute read
AUCKLAND
Two heritage refurbishments in the heart of downtown Auckland’s Britomart precinct will soon be bringing new life to two beautiful historic warehouses – as well as returning their original names.
WORDS: Jeremy Hansen and Antony Phillips IMAGES: Peddle Thorp Architects/Britomart Group/David St George
Beautifully adorned in layers of brick and timber, the Sofrana and Barrington Buildings, built in 1900 and 1905 respectively, are now being renovated to a design by Peddle Thorp Architects for Britomart Group, which discreetly inserts all the conveniences that modern offices require while restoring them to their former grandeur. Located in a prime position on Customs Street East near the bottom of Queen Street, this area was once the foreshore of the Waitematā Harbour and a rich source of shellfish for the Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei iwi. Reclamation of the area to Quay Street began in 1879, but an economic slump in the 1880s meant the Harbour Board was not able to sell the sites until ten years later. In the 1890s, the brothers Henry and Lachlan Hayman attended an auction for leases of Harbour Board land and secured the site for a warehouse building for their business, PG Hayman & Co. Having established the company in Birmingham in 1854, the brothers opened a New Zealand branch in Dunedin during the Otago gold rush, and by the mid-1930s had expanded to Auckland, Christchurch, and Invercargill. The PG Hayman & Co. warehouse in Customs Street East opened in April 1900. Designed by architect John Currie, it is an example of the Victorian Italianate Palazzo style that was popular at the time. The company stocked a wide range of goods for sale, including a strong room on the ground floor to house the jewellery department, a tobacconist, crockery area, pharmacy, a department devoted to musical goods, and areas selling stationery, saddlery, brushware and other household items. The 1930s saw the brothers undertake renovations to create an entry arcade with terrazzo flooring to bring it in line with the style of the time. The building was sold in 1935 with the new owners repurposing it to house a clothing factory, the art dealers John Cordy Ltd, Lloyd’s Shipping Register, a surveying firm and, in the 1980s, the Sofrana shipping company, who claimed naming rights to the building. By the early 2000s, the building had fallen into disuse and disrepair, but it – along with its neighbours in the Britomart precinct – were protected as part of Auckland Council’s plan to bring rail back to the centre of the city and allowed buildings above the station site to be developed. The neighbouring Barrington Building was also designed by John Currie and was known as the Kronfeld Building when it opened in 1905. Originally hailing from Prussia, Gustav Kronfeld left his native homeland in 1875 bound for Australia. He eventually made his way to Auckland via stints in Apia and Vava’u, arriving with his Samoan wife, Louisa, in 1890. The Kronfeld family lived in a large, now-demolished villa named Oli-Ula in nearby Eden Crescent.
Kronfeld’s business focused on trade with Pacific nations and further afield from 1905 until 1916, when his German ancestry led to him being unjustly interned for several years during WWI, resulting in the ruination of his business.
Britomart Group, in charge of refurbishing the two buildings, hopes that reinstating the Kronfeld name will go some way towards acknowledging the injustice of Gustav Kronfeld’s internment. A private gathering for Gustav and Louisa Kronfeld’s descendants will be held to mark the reopening of the building. The project is another shining exemplar of the way the Britomart Group respects and sensitively adapts heritage buildings in the precinct, while discreetly infusing them with quality contemporary treatments that make them feel new and exciting.
Painstaking attention has been lovingly applied to the entire project, with the restoration, conservation, and reinstatement of heritage features paramount throughout. Architects Peddle Thorp have forensically investigated historic colours and, in partnership with Salmond Reed Architects, the team have meticulously prepared drawings from historic photographs for the reconstruction of the monumental parapet frontispiece and parapet balustrading. This has involved an impressive collaboration of moldmakers, manufacturers, architects, conservation architects, and engineers, and will be the crowning glory of this project. The Hayman Kronfeld Buildings, as they will be known when they reopen later this year, will have open floor plans connecting them together. Featuring retail spaces on the ground levels, the buildings will also house modern office spaces on the top three floors. A new lobby for the offices, lined in bricks recycled during construction, will bring new energy and life to the Galway Street entrace, which is conveniently close to the Britomart Transport Centre.
The curious will enjoy watching the parapet being lifted by crane to assume its rightful position as the crown of these elegant buildings, restoring more of the original grandeur to this historic part of the city. n
Top: Architectural rendering of the completed Hayman Kronfeld Buildings, showing their Customs Street East facings. Centre: Interior under construction. Below: Elements of the parapet under construction.
