Passersby would often mistake Les Harvey for the gardener as he was weeding flower beds in streetside plots rather than the owner of much of Auckland's finest real estate.
The self-styled patriarch of Parnell, who died in 1994 aged 78, is to be immortalised by a statue in the suburb's lovingly restored Victorian village that was his life's work.
"It shows him as he was: gentle and working," said his son Kevin Harvey, pictured with the statue.
Les bought many of the old buildings along Parnell Rd in the 1970s and began restoring and developing them himself.
"When he saw all these rundown places, he decided he wanted to do something beautiful," Harvey said.
