Landmark gets Treaty House protection

The Jean Batten Building in Auckland. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

The threatened Jean Batten Building in central Auckland has been registered by the Historic Places Trust as a category 1 historic place - the same status as the Treaty House at Waitangi and the old Parliament Buildings in Wellington.

The Bank of New Zealand, which owns a prime block off Queen St that includes the 1942, seven-storey Jean Batten Building, has consent to demolish it for a new headquarters.

Trust northern general manager Sherry Reynolds said the building was architecturally significant as one of the earliest major Government office buildings in New Zealand constructed in the Moderne style. It was one of the last major works by the Government Architect John Mair and retained its design in comparatively intact form.

"The building is also historically significant for its associations with Jean Batten, NZ's most famous pilot.

"It has further significance for its connections with the World War II and New Zealand's military alliance with the United States [when it housed the United States Pacific Command]," Sherry Reynolds said.

She hoped registration would help the BNZ act "as a good corporate citizen" and incorporate the building into a new design.

Registration records the building and its historic significance but does not prevent its being demolished.

BNZ spokeswoman Brenda Newth said the bank had not heard from the trust regarding registration. "We can't comment until we have been advised via the proper channels."

She said the bank would continue to work with the Auckland City Council to investigate all options for the site. Under a moratorium in place since March, the bank has agreed not to demolish the building in exchange for the council not scheduling it under the district plan.

Heritage campaigner Allan Matson said the BNZ and its developers, Multiplex, were keeping quiet about the next episode of their "historical vandalism". The public should not assume that everything was being done to preserve the sturdy and iconic stone-clad building, he said.

"In the 1970s, the BNZ demolished the magnificent Victoria Arcade at 80 Queen St. In the 1980s it performed 'facadism' on one of Auckland's finest buildings at 125 Queen St to produce another 'iconic' headquarters.

"Apparently, that's not iconic enough any more, so it wants to ... pull down the Jean Batten Building."