CITY PROPERTIES SOLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 75, 28 March 1924, Page 3

CITY PROPERTIES SOLD.

OVER £110,000 INVOLVED. i ~ — ~~ { CENTRAL HOTEL CHANGES < HANDS. OLD LANDMARKS GOING. ' GRAHAME'S BOND TO COME DOWN. i Negotiations for three big property deals in Auckland, involving an aggregate cum of about £110,000, have just been concluded, with the result that the Central Hotel. Grahame's Bond and a block in High Street have changed ownership. I The Central Hotel, one of the beet known residential hotels in the city, is situated at the corner of Victoria and Hio-h Streets, and has a frontage of 92 feet to the former, and 162 feet to High Street. The previous owners were L. D. Nathan and Co.. and the reported salo price to Messrs. Ben Goldwater and H. | IS. Elliot ia £60,000. j To be Demolished. j The purchase of Grahame's Bond in Fort Street by L. D. Nathan and Co. for j the purpose of the erection of a new i concrete building will mark the passing of one of the few surviving landmarks of old Auckland. At present the building is occupied as a motor garage into which it was converted about five years ago. Messrs. Nathan have acquired the property with a view to occupying it while ■ extensive alterations are made to their prcseiit premises in Shortland Street. The previous owners were a syndicate who purchased about five years ago for £22,000. The figure at which the bond I has changed ownership represents an advance of approximately £10,000. The history of the bond is decidedly interesting. It was originally the proj perty of Messrs. Paul, Wright and Co., I merchants, who were operating on a ; large scale in Sydney in the "thirties" ' and "forties." The style of the firm was later changed to Grabame and Wright, ! and later to S. Grahame and Co. Mr. ; Grahame's residence stood in the early j times on the slope between Fort (Fore) Street and Shortland Crescent, and in ; front of it was the ordinal etore of the 6rm, built in wood, with a wharf jutting out opposite. The late Mr. Alexander Mitchelson. father of Sir Edwin Mitcheli eon, also came from Sydney, where he ' had been in the employ of the old 6rm, land became their first Auckland storeI man. remaining head etoreman of the i bond to the day of his death. There ! -was also a brick building, standing back I from the street frontage, which was the first bonded store proper. In the fifties the original wood atore ' was destroyed by fire, and it was rebuilt in volcanic stone. The first Collector of Customs bad his quarters in a room on the first floor, which is still intact. For nearly 80 years the property was utilised as a bonded store. Commercial Traveller's Purchase. Tho third sale will give effect to the desire of the Auckland Commercial Travellers' and Warehousemen's Association to acquire a property for the building of adequate club accommodaI tion. At present it is housed in Dur- ; ham Street, but for the past twelve ' I months the executive has been seeking ' more favourable quarters. The acquisi- ' tion of the block at present occupied by ] 'E. Porter and Co., with 60ft frontage ' to High Street, and a depth towards , Street of 87ft, marks the passing of another section of a large block running through to Queen Street, once owned ', by the late Thomas Peacock. The , purchase has been made from the , trustees of the estate at the price of £19.500. The heavy foundations will ' facilitate the building of an up-to-date residential club for the Association. Messrs. Rutherford, Robinson, and Austin were the agents in this purchase. The buildinp which rovers part of the area was originally built in the 'sixties Iby Messrs. Cruickshank and Smart, , wine and spirit merchants, and their name is still distinct on tho near wall. High Street in those days was, with Shortland Street, the principal ; thoroughfare of the city. The windows and edges of the brick structure are faced with stone slabs, Which, as in the cas>o of Grahame's Bond, came from < Albert Barracks. The foundations are of solid masonry, two feet thick. There ■ is a building with 38ft frontage to High Street between the Travellers' proposed ' home and the premises of B. Porter and ' Co., which wan recently acquired by Hardie Bros. At present both buildings I ar* uM>d a* a store by Porter's, and ! when the new structures are completed and High Street widened the , environment will be greatly improved.