Thorndon Society Newsletter of the Thorndon Society Inc.

Transcription

1 Page 1 of 12 Thorndon Society Newsletter of the Thorndon Society Inc. Working with the community for Thorndon's heritage since 1973 NEWSLETTER 169, ISSN online ISSN X, Nov 2016 Contents THE THORNDON FAIR TURNS EARLY THORNDON FAIRS... 3 WILLIAM COLENSO SQUARE... 4 HERITAGE LOST 6, ST MARY STREET... 5 TOWN PLANNING HISTORY -THORNDON'S HIGH-RISE APARTMENTS... 6 DEATH NOTICES... 8 GENERAL NOTICES... 8 YESTERDAY AND TODAY... 9 THE THORNDON SOCIETY...10 Drawing Allan Morse Architect -1974

2 Page 2 of 12 THE THORNDON FAIR TURNS 40 This year the Thorndon fair turns 40. For as long as most people can remember the fair has been run by the Thorndon School as their major fund raising activity. What you may not know is that the fair was initiated and run by the Thorndon Society for the first five years. After the suburb was severed by the motorway in the 1960s the Thorndon Society was formed to protect and enhance the heritage and character of the remaining residential areas and to restore a sense of community. Once the rejuvenation of Thorndon was under way the idea of holding a fair was raised with the aim of showcasing the suburb. The fair was to be Thorndon's publicity day. The first fair was held on Saturday 2 April It began in the morning with a parade of clowns and floats from Parliament, along Molesworth and Hill Streets to Tinakori Road. It ended in the afternoon with a finale in the Botanic Garden sound-shell Poster of the first Thorndon Fair including a programme of theatre and folk singing. At various venues throughout the day a wide range of community groups, schools, clubs and political parties ran stalls and sideshows or held exhibitions and displays. There were also tours of Thorndon attractions. The Thorndon Society sold demolition materials and there was even a cricket match at Anderson Park. By all accounts, apart from a little rain, the fair was a great success. The organisers ended exhausted and happy but without any immediate plans to hold another.

3 Page 3 of 12 After a gap in 1978 the fair was revived in the following year. Approval was granted for the closing of Tinakori Road between Bowen and Hill Streets and stalls and events were concentrated in this area. The fair has continued in this form ever since. In 1982 the organisation was passed from the Thorndon Society to the Thorndon School. The Thorndon Society wishes The Thorndon School every success in hosting the fair for many more years to come. Brett McKay EARLY THORNDON FAIRS How do you draw a community together? The first Thorndon Fair I remember was in And its aim was partly to draw the residents of Thorndon together after the alarming motorway demolitions of the early 1970s. It was organised by members of the Thorndon Society and its parent body the Thorndon Trust. Both these groups were dedicated to the protection of Thorndon s older buildings, humble and grand and to the development of a balanced residential community. The Trust had bought up houses under threat in the area and the Thorndon Society had started a community newsletter and lobbied for the protection of historic zones in Thorndon. They encouraged street parties, printed and sold successful calendars featuring Thorndon and were now organizing their second Thorndon Fair which involved persuading the Wellington City Council to close off Tinakori Rd between Bowen St and Harriet St for the day. The Fair was a huge success. Local shop keepers leant a hand. The Ministry of Works provided trestle tables. The Wellington City Council

4 Page 4 of 12 loaned outdoor seats. Mr and Mrs KK Patel of Parks Grocery provided lollies for the children s lolly scramble. Several residents opened up their houses for use as popular wine bars. The wine was supplied by local wine merchants and given away free. Tea and scones were served under coloured umbrellas in the middle of Tinakori Rd. Two pipe bands performed as did the Scottish country dancers and the Chameleon Theatre. Tinakori Rd swarmed with buyers and onlookers. The stall-holders, who paid a fee of $10 to the Thorndon Society, included the Thorndon School, the Labour Party, SPCA, Greenpeace, Ngati Poneke, who provided a rousing haka, and Mr T Tapp of Upper Hutt who installed a small train and a merry-go-round in the grounds of the Dental Clinic Annex (Now Premier House.) Thorndon in those days was shabbier, the houses less well cared for. Their occupants often older and of mixed ethnicity. Many more students sharing digs. But there was a great feeling that we were all pulling together. It wasn t a Fair intent on making huge profits. It was the people of Thorndon coming together. All the organisation and co-ordination was done by the Thorndon Society and all the expenses of hiring furniture and equipment, paying bands and performers fees, and advertising were paid for by the Thorndon Society. In later years, in an attempt to keep commercialism at bay, the Chinese Anglican Society added liveliness to the Fair with their Lion Dance and The King of Thorndon and Thorndinia Fair, (his transsexual Queen) both large street theatre puppets, with their rabble of pirates and mermaids added a touch of drama. Dinah Priestley WILLIAM COLENSO SQUARE In September this year the City Council named the existing paved pedestrian area in Molesworth Street, situated between the former State services Commission building (now Rugby house) and the National William Colenso Square

5 Library, as William Colenso Square. Page 5 of 12 For well over 100 years the land formed part of Wingfield Street but the street was closed in 1973 to facilitate the Government s development plans for the area. The naming was proposed by the Colenso Society to recognise the achievements of William Colenso and his association with this part of Thorndon. During his political career ( ) Colenso had his closest connection with Thorndon. While attending the General Assembly as member for Napier he lodged in Wingfield Street. William Colenso ( ) was a notable Victorian polymath, a person of wide and varied interests and learning. He was a missionary, printer, explorer, scholar, botanist and politician. He was present at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and in 1886 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. The National Library holds a large collection of Colenso s work. A naming ceremony is being held at 8am on Friday 18 November as part of a conference of the Colenso Society to be held at the National Library. All are welcome to attend. Brett McKay HERITAGE LOST 6, ST MARY STREET Heritage is the great strength which defines our suburb but it continues to be lost. We thought that adequate planning provisions were in place to protect and conserve our remaining heritage housing stock so it s been frustrating to find that at 6 St Mary Street the Council has failed to save what was an existing cottage dating from at least the 1890s. Contrary to the planning rules the cottage has been completely demolished and replaced by a replica building. Although the Council is now trying to retrieve the situation by requiring remedial work on the front facade it is the Society s view that this will not validate the development. The replica building is illegal and will continue to remain so unless proper approval is granted under the District Plan. The Council has a responsibility to enforce the provisions of its own Plan.

6 Page 6 of 12 As the development was approved on a non-notified basis there is no way for any third party to seek redress, other than through judicial proceedings in the High Court. The cost of this is prohibitive and effectively debars any third-party action. At this stage the outcome remains uncertain but we fear that Thorndon will just be told to accept the loss of its heritage and live with the replica building. This will be bad for Thorndon as it would signal that the District Plan can be easily circumvented. Brett McKay TOWN PLANNING HISTORY -THORNDON'S HIGH-RISE APARTMENTS Have you ever wondered why there are high-rise apartment blocks dotted amongst the one and two storied houses in the residential areas of Thorndon? The answer goes back to a time when the Council was actively promoting a high-density, high-rise future for the inner residential suburbs of the city. The starting point was the Great Depression of the 1930s. This traumatic event resulted in a massive under investment in the construction of new housing and the maintenance of existing houses. Overcrowding was rife and slum conditions intensified. To help address this the Government initiated a nation-wide housing survey in The Wellington City survey revealed the poor state of housing in the inner-city suburbs and the City Engineer concluded that the existing unsatisfactory housing should be replaced by new suitable apartments or other multi-unit buildings. This was to anchor the thinking on the planning and development of the inner-city suburbs, including Thorndon, for the next 40 years. After the Second World War the housing crisis was still acute but it was a time when rebuilding began in earnest. Town planning issues were also widely debated and high-rise development was promoted as a solution to clearing slums and limiting sprawl. An exhibition called Te Aro Replanned, by the Architectural Centre in 1948, showed how the older inner-city suburbs could be cleared and rebuilt with high-rise apartments set in extensive green spaces. This exhibition was highly influential and reinforced the vison of a planned, high density residential future for the inner-city suburbs.

7 Page 7 of 12 However, the Council was slow to put the theory into practice and a formal planning scheme was not introduced until This was not a comprehensive plan, and was short on policy, but it favoured higher density residential development close to the central city and included rules providing for buildings to a height of 25.6m (84 feet). In 1961 the Birchington Court apartment block at 125 Grant Road (shown in the photo above) was the first high-rise approved for Thorndon under the new rules. This rises to a height of some 60m. The 1959 plan was never ratified because the Council shifted its focus to the urban motorway and directed a major review of city planning to take account of this development. When new draft planning proposals were introduced in the mid-1960s the Council continued to endorse a highdensity, high-rise future for the inner residential suburbs. This was portrayed in the publicity sketch below. The Council s vison for the inner residential suburbs District Plan commentary document 1967 The draft plan stated that as the majority of houses within the town belt were old and many were both functionally and economically obsolete, sites should be amalgamated and replaced with high density housing needs of the city. The associated rules permitted buildings to a height equal to 1½ times the width of adjacent streets and to a maximum of 32m (102 feet). In the years up to 1972 when the draft plan was finally approved, consent was granted for most of the existing high-rise apartment blocks in Thorndon. No sooner had the ink dried on the 1972 plan than public opposition to high-density, high-rise development began to grow. Attitudes

8 Page 8 of 12 had changed and restoration and renewal of older houses rapidly gained pace. By the end of the decade, in response to a major high-rise battle in Mt Victoria, the Council had initiated a plan change to reduce the maximum building height to 12m and later to 10m. This signalled the end of the high-rise era in Wellington's inner-city residential suburbs. In more recent times, high-rise residential development has found a more appropriate home in the commercial heart of the city and the surrounding residential suburbs are now reasonably protected. However, with all of the current talk about intensifying our cities to provide for growth and development it is not unreasonable to think that one day attempts might be made to resurrect the notion of a high-rise future for the inner residential suburbs. This would most certainly trigger a major planning battle. Brett McKay DEATH NOTICES Valerie Scott, Thorndon artist and writer who was featured in the previous Thorndon Society Newsletter, died on 7 September Avis Higgs, died on 14 October aged 98 A renowned artist, textile designer and Thorndon resident since Avis has a plaque in the Tinakori Road Artists Walk which celebrates her contribution to the arts. Max Wilkinson who will be fondly remembered by many Thorndonites, died on 28 November He was closely associated with the Thorndon Society and the Thorndon Trust for many years. GENERAL NOTICES TV1 Neighbourhood programme on Thorndon - Those who missed this programme advertised in the July edition can view it by going to: Randell Cottage Writers Residence 14 St Mary Street - Annual Open Day, 4 December. This is the day of the fair so drop in between 11am and 4pm to view the cottage and learn about the work of the Writers Trust and the Friends of Randell Cottage.

9 ` YESTERDAY AND TODAY A photo looking east from Tinakori Hill taken in the late 1880s showing the 'loop' of Glenbervie Terrace off Tinakori Road. Did you know that at various times in this locality, either officially or unofficially, there have been two Glenbervie Terraces, two Glenbervie Cuttings, a Glenbervie Road and a Glenbervie Crescent. It can be very confusing if you are undertaking historical research in the area. National Library (Ref1/ \G). The view today. There is more vegetation but if you look closely you can still see some of the original houses. In the 1960s the area was under threat of being cleared to rehouse people displaced by the motorway but it was eventually rezoned as part of the first historic precinct in the country.

10 ` THE THORNDON SOCIETY The Thorndon Society was established in 1973 in response to the destruction of a large part of Thorndon for the construction of the Urban Motorway. The primary focus of the Society is to protect and preserve what remains of Thorndon's heritage and to maintain its residential character. The Society has been particularly active in opposing the further loss of heritage housing stock, the conversion of houses to non-residential use and the 'creep' of commercial uses into the suburb from the Central Area zone. The Society also works to promote an interest in, and knowledge of, Thorndon's heritage through the publication of our newsletter and other initiatives such as the Notable Homes Plaques Project. Thorndon Society Website The website address is Membership You can apply for membership online or by contacting any of the committee (see below). The fees are $15 individual Thorndon resident, $20 Thorndon household or non-resident or $50 corporate. The subscription year runs from January to December. Newsletter Donations Any donations to support the printing of the newsletter will be gratefully received. You can pay online to our account at Please include Newsletter in the reference field. Thorndon Society Contacts PO Box , Thorndon, Wellington 6144 thorndonsociety@gmail.com Convenor: Bruce Lynch, phone Secretary: Grant Strachan, phone Treasurer: Tony Burton, phone Newsletter Editor: Brett McKay, phone Advertising: Judith Hatton, phone Newsletter Layout Haritina Mogosanu-

11 ` Newsletter Coverage This newsletter is delivered to 1600 households in Thorndon but we are aware that some people still miss out. Please don t bin your copy it as soon as you ve read it. Pass it on to others to help boost our coverage and to promote our advertisers. ADVERTISING SPACE AVAILABLE. Contact JUDITH or Newsletter printed by Rapid Copy Ltd, 191B Thorndon Quay, 04/

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