OLD BUILDINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 266, 9 November 1928, Page 9

OLD BUILDINGS.

MEMORIES OF EARLY

AUCKLAND.

WORK OF OUR ANCESTORS.

THE HUMAN INTEREST

When the antiquary was being shown with pride an American town of 25,000 inhabitants, and only ten years old, he remarked that he would prefer the thing reversed—a 25,000 year old town with only ten inhabitants. This love of old tbinga is part of our human nature. "Old wine, old books, old friends," as the poet says; we all instinctively have a love, which we cannot very well explain, for the of other days. That is to say, things made by human handt* for at the back of it all the human interest is what attracts us. The French understand this, and that is why their museums are so fascinating. In the Carnavalet, for instance, that wonderful storehouse of mementos of old Paris, one comes across apparently trivial personal belongings which bring that past before one in a flash that is most dramatic.

When one wanders round about this beautiful Auckland of ours one realises this personal appeal of our old buildings. With the exception of the Supreme Court, which takes us back to the days of bold barons, and knights, and ladies in quoifs and wimples, we have no buildings whose chief appeal lies in their beauty, and even in that fine old pile it is the human touch that is its principal charm—one refers to the quaint gargoyles, corbels carved with the heads of forgotten legal and other worthies, and above all the beautifully carved ends of the .jury seats, the cornices, and the panels at the back of the judge's seat. The man who carved them was undoubtedly an artist.

Castle-like. Copied from an old English castle in Warwickshire, the Supreme Court is a charming foil to the severely plain and sombre ferro-concrete strV-tures of today. One has only to compare the Court with the modern University to realise the wide space that separates modem exigencies from the more romantic and spacious days typified by the castellated old building. ITie Court was built in the 'sixties out of the same loan as the old Post Office in Shortland Street. Apropos of the carver there is a story about a singularly ill-featured head ori one of the corbels on the Shortland Street front. It is said that the carver was putting his own features on that particular corbel, when the contractor came along and contended that it was his face that should be handed down to posterity. The carver picked up a hammer, shattered the head, and then replaced it with the present forbidding face. Auckland's most picturesque old building is undoubtedly the brick windmill, which dates from the 'forties, and still catches the eye pleasant with its long sails (unfortunately mutilated) still whirling round away up there hn its hill-top. One has a feeling of thankfulness for the spirit of reverence that still preserves this grand old relic of a bygone age and bygone methods. True, they say that most of the serious work is now done by electric power, but the mill is still there, taking the mind back pleasantly to "old forgotten faroff things."

Auckland's quaintest building 1 is surely the lone low stone buildinp still in use at St. Stephen's native school in Parnell—"the work of the very early missionaries of Selwyn days. Our Only Ruin. Our only ivy-covered ruin, quite in the style of old ruins in England and Scotland, is St. Thomas', at the corner of St. Helier'a Bay Road and Kohimarama Road, a hewn stone church which is another relic of Selwyn's days. Down at Mission Bay are other picturesque stone buildings, the chapel being particularly interesting, as it was built out of the proceeds of Charlotte Yongc's "Daisy Chain," a very popular novel with our grandmothers. The author was a cousin of the sainted Bishop Patteson, and the building was part of the Melanesian Mission station that existed there for many years before being removed to Norfolk Island. One is rather surprised that church people can bo content to see it sinking into ruin. St. Andrew's, near the Supreme Court, is another ancient building, the nave having been built in the 'forties by the sturdy Scots that / came out in the pioneer ships Duchess of Argyle and the Jane Gifford, who were folk. Subsequently the ornate steeple, in three—or is it four?—styles of architecture, and the classical portico, were added. The building is severelv plain, but the tall domed steeple suits the horizon effectively, along with the sturdy towers of the nearby Supreme Court and the University's rather restless tower, of many pinnacles and piercings.

Selwyn Chapels. Other ecclesiastical buildings with a history are the neglected little seaside chapel dedicated to St. Stephen, in the cemetery on the headland above St. George's Bay, where manv of the "forefathers of the hamlet sleep." Then there is the tiny chapel at St. John's College, with its fine stained glass. Part of Selwyn's original stone buildings still stand at the college, and thev arc interesting from the fact that the fyreat man himself worked on them. Most people have heard the old storv about the person who called to see the' Bishop, and was directed to the beach, down Kohimarama way. There he saw some men hauling timber up the beach. When he asked where his Lordship was, a man in shirt and rolled-up trousers [said: "Here I am." The newcomer had never seen a real live bishop in such un-ecclesiastical garb before, and got quite a shock. Both these chapels are in wood. There is another rather attractive little Selwyn chapel, with its high-pitched roofs, out at Onehunga, and until the other day the best example of the period stood at Otahuhn, but that has been pushed out of the way for a modern structure. These improvements may be inevitable, but they do cause old-timers a pang. One should not omit to mention the old Cathedral library at the top of St. Stephen's Avenue, now part of Bishop's Court. Seekers after the half-forgotten will also find at Bishop's Court the first olficial residence of the Anglican bishops of the diocese—a buildin*? of dressed blue scoria, with the tali Norfolk Island pine, over 100 ft high, in the front garden. That building dates from about 1850.

Of ancient domestic architecture there are two remarkable examples in Auckland. First comes Acacia Cottage, the first tiny home of Sir Jphn Logan Campbell, every board of which was carried up from the beach on the back of the grand old man himself. That now stands in Cornwall Park, near the tea "4 though it is nearer ninety old «hn eighty, bm tout of kavi

board still have a good many years' life in them. Younger by only five years or so, is the collection of old wooden buildings at the corner of Victoria. Street and Kitchener Street, which date from the "forties. Tha little cottage facing Kitchener Street was built in 184&—and is still inhabited.

The Grim Stone Jug. There are several other elderly buildings round and about Auckland, but every year sees them growing fewer and fewer. Of all the old half-ruined buildings that are to be found within a radius of ten miles or so, the Old Stone Jug on the Great North Road, half-way between the old Grey Lynn tram terminus and the Point Chevalier Road corner, always gives the suggestion that it is waiting for something. Built in 1858 of hewn 6tones from the surrounding outcrops of blue metal, the old place was a lively spot during the days when millions of feet were being got out of the Waitakere ranges, and the thirsty bushmen used to drop in on their way from camp to town and back again. This plain, oblong, two-storeyed, old building, its' windows boarded up, has a rather sinister air about it, and while it is probable that nothing more awful than some heavy carousals ever took place within its grim walls, it always suggests something sinister—gives a hint of some old tragedy that never came to light, and may still be buried somewhere in the lonely stony ground at the back. The old Stone Jug is losing some of its isolation —which was once complete— but even the presence of many trim, cheery villas in the once vacant fields, cannot altogether rob it of its grimness.