Victorian villas in Auckland get the chop

These two villas at Crummer Rd in Auckland's Ponsonby have been removed to make way for apartments. Photo / Doug Sherring

Ponsonby houses were reportedly worn out and not worth preserving.

Two early 20th-century Victorian villas have made way for a new apartment building metres from Ponsonby Rd, sparking outrage from heritage advocates.

The two-storey villas at 16 and 18 Crummer Rd were built separately about 1905, but later joined.

Removal of the homes was completed last week, with Waitemata Local Board member Vernon Tava telling the Herald on Sunday a four-storey apartment building was expected to be built in their place.

Records show the site is owned by Diane and Wayne Wright. They could not be contacted, but a person named Diane Wright wrote on neighbouring Whitespace Gallery's Facebook page - where dozens have criticised the move - that the houses were being relocated.

The original integrity of the houses was "sadly long gone", she wrote.

They were converted into an Indian restaurant in the 1970s, and later offices. All original chimney breasts were gone, there was irreparable slumping, rot, dampness and cracked windows, and earthmoving equipment at neighbouring Vinegar Developments had shaken the buildings "to their very core".

"All this after spending well over $200,000-plus in (loving) restoration," she wrote.

Tava agreed that the villas were "significantly compromised", but were still a loss. "They're symbolic of what is extremely weak heritage protection in Auckland."

The board had believed the houses were protected under a pre-1944 heritage rule. But Auckland Council heritage unit manager Noel Reardon said they were never protected and did not meet the pre-1944 rule standards because they were neither historic buildings nor contributed to the "distinctive quality of the streetscape".

The council approved the demolition after exhaustive inquiries into the properties including testing them against the pre-1944 rule. "We didn't have to do it ... we thought there might be some reaction so we went through the process as if we had to," Reardon said.

As a courtesy, council planners told the Waitemata Local Board in July last year a certificate of compliance for demolition of the villas had been issued.