Paint job defaces historic facade

The repainted facade with the white pointing obliterated. Picture / Dean Purcell

The owners of the row of terraced two-storey brick shops in upper Queen St are being ordered to repaint the outside of the historic buildings or face a fine of up to $40,000.

Heritage guardians are not impressed that the facades of all but the last two shops have been painted in their original red colour without white pointing to resemble red bricks.

Auckland City Council heritage manager George Farrant yesterday said the paint job was "pretty shonky" and the owners would be told to complete the job.

The shops, at 456 to 486 Queen St, are among the most protected buildings in the central city. They have top category A status in the council district plan, the Historic Places Trust rates them top category 1 and they are one of only five central city properties subject to a heritage order by the trust. Other buildings with a heritage order are the Courtville Apartments, the Bank of New Zealand facade at 125 Queen St, the Civic Theatre and the Bluestone Store.

Heritage campaigner Allan Matson said the painting had destroyed, or at least damaged, an essential part of the shops and compromised their architectural and cultural meaning.

Mr Matson said the exterior of the shops, built between 1908 and 1912, was one of Auckland's early examples of facadism. This was because they were built of bricks fired from local clays that produced an orange-yellow colour. Because of this, the architects designed facades to resemble red brick.

Plaster finish with red oxide was applied over the construction bricks, grooves scribed to resemble bricks laid in a Flemish bond pattern and raised white pointing applied to accentuate that pattern.

"These facades are of particular significance and have recently been covered in paint. While the facades have presented a good appearance for nearly a century, it is interesting to note that the repainted facades are beginning to leach."

Mr Matson said the owners should have got a resource consent to paint the exterior of the buildings and questioned the standard of protection by the trust and council.

Mr Farrant said the painting was regarded as maintenance and did not need resource consent. However, maintenance meant leaving the exterior exactly as it was - and the owners had not got round to repointing the bricks.

Part of the problem had been finding the owners of the different shops but the council now had a name for the new body corporate, he said.

"We have got to give them the benefit of the doubt and say, 'Given you haven't yet finished the whole task, when are you going to do the pointing on the brick?"' Mr Farrant said.

If the owners did not do the pointing, they faced prosecution, he said. The maximum fine for damaging or modifying a historic place under the Historic Places Act is $40,000.

The owners could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, the council has listed the Edwardian Paykel home at 42 St Stephens Ave as a category B heritage building after a two-year battle by locals to protect it from being demolished or removed.