Delight balanced by anger and sadness

Auckland City chief heritage advisor George Farrant at the new TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre. Photo / Richard Robinson.

The opening of the Wallace Arts Centre last Sunday wasn't bitter-sweet but rather anger-delight for me.

A delight, because after 25 years of curiosity, I finally got to darken the doors of the magnificent 1870s Pah Homestead in Monte Cecilia Park.

And the mansion's contents are even more exciting than its restored marble fireplaces, chandeliers and parquet floors.

An impressive cross-section of the 5000-work Wallace art collection shows off Who's Who in contemporary New Zealand art.

It was like walking into a jewel box. Or rather, shuffling into one - we were a pack to rival Scott Eady's rugby league scrum of plastic skeletons on the upstairs landing. Polar fleece rubbed against Fleur de Lys jackets in the mostly Pakeha throng.

Visitor Vincent Ward carried a small being who looked half hulk, half tiger, thanks to incredible face-painting on the veranda by Carmel. Older patrons devoured a mountain of Devonshire scones as they gazed over the 150-year-old stock fence to, um, Royal Oak Mall, shimmering in the distance.

James Wallace himself - the man who makes silk purses from sow's ears, or rather, turns offal into artwork - was very pleased with the visitor numbers of more than 1500. Conspicuous in maroon corduroys, cream leather jacket and fawn winklepickers, he wandered around, drinking it all in, and took a picture of the Bach Musica Quartet on his mobile.

Entry is free; the gallery spaces are lovely; the one serious thing the centre is missing is frequent public transport. So why am I angry?

Because, to quote one of the large protest signs on the field beside the centre: "Our School pays the price of your art". Monte Cecilia School - where I was a pupil for five deliriously happy years - is to be removed for a carpark turning-bay. After two internal polls, it's clear that, contrary to reports, the school community overwhelmingly wants to stay onsite. In May, they elected a board of trustees who are unanimous on this. They would be happy to move a few dozen metres - and that's all that's needed for park purposes. It would be a disgraceful waste of goodwill and horrifying sums of money to rip the school out when myriad better options exist.

The Friends of Monte stress that they are "not against the arts centre"; unfortunately, the feeling isn't entirely mutual. In Wallace's opinion, the school is short-sighted as they will get a brand-new school 3km away and the diocese is "getting a lot of money". He says that at 3pm on school days, it can take 15 minutes to drive the 160m from Hillsborough Rd. Friends of Monte flatly refute that as utter rubbish.

Why erase the neighbourhood? Is the council trying to turn a piece of Roskill into Epsom at public expense? It is certainly ignoring its mandate to preserve "living history" at the park.

Without the 200-odd potential young arts champions over the back fence, the centre could become rather lonely and stand-offish, separated from the world by beautiful, empty colour fields of green. By the gate, visible from the school, is a Sam Harrison sculpture of a huddled female figure, shielding her head, entitled Fallen. It will be a great pity if, like her, the school is cast out of its Eden.

Whether it knows it yet or not, it will be the arts centre's loss.