The University has recently completed a $4.5 million restoration of three historic Merchant Houses on the University of Auckland’s City Campus.
The beautifully restored buildings are now home to 31 Faculty of Arts Office and Administration staff, including the Dean of Arts, Professor Robert Greenberg. Seven spaces are provided for visiting and emeriti staff. There are three small group teaching spaces for Tuākana and First Year Experience, plus a small office for the Arts Students Association.
Director of Faculty Operations Jarrod Shearer says that “One of the best features of the move is that it has provided centralised, dedicated space for our student groups and associations.” However, the new surroundings are also working well for staff. The three houses mean that for the first time, faculty staff are all working in the same area of the university, instead of being spread across different offices.
“The biggest change is that we are now more accessible to all staff and are much easier to find. We are already benefitting from the opportunity to get together and talk with each other in the communal tea room space for the three houses,” Jarrod says.
Built in 1884-85 in the Italianate style, which was favoured by merchants in late colonial Auckland, the houses have been carefully restored to make them safe and protect their Historic Places Trust ranking as ‘places of historical or cultural heritage significance or value’.
The houses were acquisitioned by the University in the 1960s and were home to the Department of Political Studies for 50 years. In 1966, the Department was at the centre of a student demonstration focusing on issues of surveillance and freedom of speech, the first protest of this kind on the University campus.
Several of New Zealand’s leading politicians (including Phil Goff and former Prime Minister Helen Clark) and media figures (including Bill Ralston) studied in the Merchant Houses.
The restoration work, triggered by the need for seismic strengthening and damp-proofing, needed to balance the requirement to restore the houses with the decision to keep alterations already made, such as additional windows added in the 1970s.
To adhere to earthquake-strengthening requirements, the buildings have been screwed, rather than nailed, together, using about 40,000 screws. Wood was carefully sourced to match the original kauri skirting boards and architraves.
Neil Buller from the University’s Property Services office, who managed the project, says Aspec Construction put in a “sterling effort” and the old houses would now be there for another 100 years.
As a tribute to the significant work done to protect the heritage buildings, the historic names of the three houses – Belgrave (12 Symonds Street), Okareta (14 Symonds Street) and Mona (16 Symonds Street) - have been reintroduced.
