All for the villas going and new mid rise apartments being built in their place

I see the Herald has picked up on complaints are a set of dilapidated Victorian villas near Ponsonby up for demolition and a four storey apartment block to be built in their place.

From the Herald:

Victorian villas in Auckland get the chop

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.

………

Full article: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11468594

This is the location of the villas in context to its surroundings:

The zone under the Unitary Plan is Mixed Use Zone. Meaning once the Unitary Plan goes live next year you can build residential, commercial or a mix of both on a Mixed Use Zone site.

This is what will replace the villas:

The apartments not only boost the supply of housing in an area of Auckland that has high demand for housing but is also in better character than the existing villas. Meaning the villas are actually out of character to the area they are in while the new apartments are in character especially the area will be Mixed Use Zone.

So in short:

Reading what the condition of the Villas were like and where they are located I am come to the following:

• They sit on the Mixed Use Zone under the Unitary Plan (Mixed Use means you can build a building with commercial and/or residential together)
• The location they are in is surrounded by more post 1985 buildings also on Mixed Use Zone land
• The villas are technically out of character with the area that sits on Mixed Use Zone
• The villas have been heavily modified beyond originall use of residential
• It could have been moved to an area with a Single House Zone
• Owing to the above the 1944 Heritage Overlays is moot
• Thus carry on with the development on mid rise apartments per the zone it sits on

There are times and places to save “heritage” buildings. This is not one of them.