Iconic window damaged in early-morning brawl

Suresh Jeram is determined to get the gold-leaf lettering redone. Photo / Martin Sykes

A jewel of the Ponsonby Rd streetscape, a 65-year-old glass window bearing rare gold-leaf lettering, risked being smashed to pieces during an early morning brawl yesterday.

Members of the public managed to hold a man who cracked the window of the D. Jairam & Sons Quality Fruiterers store around 1 am when he put his arm through it during a big fight. Police arrived and arrested him. Suresh Jeram, who took over the family dairy and fruit and vegetable business from his father, Dullabh Jeram - says he is adamant that the window, and in particular its gold-leaf lettering, will be replaced to maintain the history of the place.

"The shop has been in the family since the 1920s," Mr Jeram says. "My grandfather Gopal Jairam had the gold-leaf lettering done back then. It was a very specialised craft and is very rare to see these days."

Fixing the window itself at a cost of around $3500 to $4000 will cost significantly less than reinstating the gold-leaf lettering.

Mr Jeram said the window has become somewhat iconic in the area, because of the lettering.

In a similar incident in 1944, the window was smashed and then replaced, but with the original lettering still intact.

"People from all over Auckland come in and will comment on it," Mr Jeram said.

"Their grandparents might have lived in the area back in the day and that's how they know the shop."

Mr Jeram said that over the years a number of people - many of them architects and historians - had recommended he get the window and its gold-leaf lettering looked at for valuation purposes.

"I guess I was late to do that," Mr Jeram said. "But we want to put it back to how it was because of the history of the place."