ROOF-TOP HOMES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22318, 16 January 1936, Page 11

ROOF-TOP HOMES

CARETAKERS' COLONY CONTENTED RESIDENTS ENTHUSIASTIC GARDENERS High above the city pavements exists a small colony whose inhabitants spend most of their lives looking down on the rest of Auckland. These roofdwellers are caretakers and their families, who live and work happily on the tops of the city's largest office buildings. The scenery upon which they gaze is a forest of tall buildings, broken by an occasional glimpse of the harbour, while their gardens are contained in barrels and boxes, and squares of asphalt or gravel play substitute for green lawns. But, almost without exception, they are contented with their lot. Boof-dwellers are friendly folk and always willing to show a curious inquirer how they live eight storeys above the street. They point with pride to their strawberries, roses, pansies and passion-fruit, all flourishing high above the street, and emphasise that there is nothing unusual in their existence, except that their homes arc built on lofty sites. A Terrier and His Owners There are about CO caretakers of office buildings in Auckland and with their wives and children they make up quite a considerable colony. Most of them have worked ab other jobs before going up to the roof-tops, and the Auckland list includes an ex-lifeguards-man, a sailor who served in H.M.S. Benbow at the Battle of Jutland, and an ex-policeman. Chum is a brown and white fox terrier who lives on the top of an eightstorey building near the foot of Queen Street. Like the other pets kept by caretakers' families, he seldom comes down to earth, but he is perfectly happy, for his owners have given him a small patch of earth in ono corner of the roof, and he can scratch and dig there among the weeds and grass to his heart's content.

Chum's owners have the distinction of owning one of the prettiest roof-top gardens in the city. It is attractively laid out in green-painted boxes and barrels, and nasturtiums, roses, geraniums, hydrangeas and fuscliia flourish there, although the quantity of soil is limited. Last year passion-fruit ripened 110 ft. above the street level, and yesterday the caretaker's wife was picking strawberries from plants which had been grown in a barrel placed in a corner of the small gravelled backyard. Cheerful Philosopher

This caretaker and his wife and daughter have been living on the roof for seven years, and although the novelty has worn off now, they say that they would not like to live anywhere else in Auckland. There is plenty of sunshine, the air always seems fresher, and no hawkers care to climb 50 or 60 steps to sell their wares. The only drawback to roof-dwelling is a domestic one —the caretaker's wife has to send her washing out to a laundry. Soot from city chimneys and .ships' funnels quickly clings to anything hung out on the clothes-line, while curtains soon get grimy.

A cheerful philosopher dwells on the top of a building whose flood-lit bulk is familiar to all Aticklandcrs at night. He thinks there is plenty of humour in a caretaker's life, and finds endless amusement in watching the hurrying crowds in the street below. "We roofdwellers may not have big gardens, but I think we appreciate flowers far more," he said yesterday, and pointed proudly to his pansics, a potato plant, and a microscopic patch of grass for his cat, all growing in barrels. His garden is still in process of preparation, but he lias ambitious plans for the future, and tulips, roses and many other flowers may bloom there next vear.

This caretaker has lived on top of the building for six years with his wife and six children. He served for 16& years in the Royal Navy and during the Great War served as a leading torpedo-man in H.JM.S. Benbow at the Battle of Jutland. Vegetables and Birds Pride in their miniature gardens seems to be a characteristic of the roofdwellers. The ex-policeman who looks after a large insurance building grew tomatoes in his garden last year, and is specially proud of his healthy crops of mint and parsley, which he pointed out to a visitor yesterday. The caretaker of another insurance building, however, has had no success in his horticultural experiments. He blames the wind, for his building is one of the highest in the city. "This is the life for me." That is an accurate summary, of the opinions expressed by the former life-guardsman and Royal Marine, who looks after an eight-storev building. He has been living on the roof for three months and speaks enthusiastically of the absence qf traffic noise, the absolute privacy, the nearness to the city, and the freshness of the air. He plans to keep birds, and a cat and dog in his backyard, and already has several sacks of soil for £ garden. "1 would be very sorry to go back on the flat again," he said yesterday. After eight years in the Life Guards, and 13 years at sea, he expresses absolute satisfaction with the unusual change in his mode of living.