From issue: Spring 2002

Roading affecting Heritage

by Jane Phare

Other examples of roading affecting heritage buildings are dotted around the country.

Auckland's Birdcage Tavern... condemned to a miserable existence if left on site Picture: David Reynolds

The Kerikeri Stone Store has 7000 vehicles a day, including heavy trucks, rumbling past its front door. A proposed bypass is due to be built in the next few years but the Trust and other organisations have lobbied for the work to start sooner. Highwic in Epsom, Auckland, butts against a main route and a motorway. The roar of the Wellington motorway can be heard from the garden of the Katherine Mansfield Birthplace as traffic speeds by just beyond the back fence.

The North Shore City Council plans to widen traffic-clogged Esmond Rd in Takapuna, Auckland, wiping out part of author Frank Sargeson's garden in the process. It was from his Esmond Rd bach that Sargeson wrote many of his great short stories and novels, living there from 1931 until his death in 1982. Other younger writers such as Janet Frame, Kevin Ireland and Karl Stead worked for long periods at Sargeson's home, ducking through a hole in an unruly hedge to get into the property.

When Sargeson died, his ashes were scattered in the garden and the old bach is now a literary museum.

The council's plan to take 1.8 metres from the Sargeson front yard for road widening enraged the Frank Sargeson Trust. After some negotiation, the council agreed to take only 1.2 metres of the property, including the unruly hedge. But the Sargeson Trust argues that the land should be spared, that it is part of an important symbol of our history and culture.

Across the Auckland Harbour Bridge, the Category II Birdcage Tavern (the old Rob Roy Hotel) is in the path of the favoured options for rebuilding and widening the Victoria Park viaduct. Transit, which owns the 1884 building, plans to move the Birdcage 30 metres up Franklin Rd.

The viaduct project is part of Transit's Harbour Bridge to City project aimed at improving flow off the bridge and through St Mary's Bay. The Historic Places Trust considers that moving the Birdcage is the best option under the circumstances. The Trust's Auckland area co-ordinator, David Reynolds, says Transit's plan to move the Victoria Park viaduct westward allows two heritage buildings - Victoria Park Main Building (Category II) and Victoria Park Market Chimney (Category I) - to stay clear of the viaduct.
"If not moved, the Birdcage would be overwhelmed by the proposed replacement viaduct and the new structure would completely cut the hotel off from the sky, condemning it to a miserable existence, and probably an uneconomic commercial future."

Heritage compromises are not cheap for Transit. It needs to widen North Otago's historic Waianakarua Bridge on State Highway 1 between Oamaru and Palmerston. The bridge, which dates from the 1870s, is to be widened next year from 6.6 metres to 8.5 metres and the original Oamaru stone arches preserved at a cost of $1.4 million. The bridge will still be narrower than the standard nine to 10 metres but the old arches will not support a wider deck.

Jane Phare is the Editor of Heritage New Zealand.