IS AUCKLAND A DRAB CITY?

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 41, 11 May 1927, Page 12

IS AUCKLAND A DRAB CITY?

Sydney, which prides itself on being artistic, colourful, the one bright spot in the Southern Hemisphere, was rudely shocked a little time ago when Sir Bertram MacKennal, the eminent sculptor, declared that it was a drab city. Auckland, like Sydney, has the natural beauty of setting. Nature has blended the blue of sky and sea with the emerald of landscape, but have the planners and builders of this city made the best of the splendid basis? Can Auckland refute the allegation that it is not as cold and colourless as the wind driven and mist-ridden towns, which we like to believe exist only in the far south?

Drabness, there certainly is, the natural outcome of growth from a yesterday of fern gullies to commercial prosperity. Back streets and mean houses still hold a depressing chill about them. Climate seems to insist that there shall be more white in the colour scheme, more flat roofs, more likeness to a sun-drenched Spanish town, especially on the shores of the Waitemata. One is writing particularly of the residential parts of the city. The business quarters show the trend of modern architecture and Queen Street is becoming a thoroughfare of fine structures. The insides of the Sydney homes were included in the sculptor’s condemnation. He said that mandarin yellows, atmosphere blues and apple greens should brighten the walls in place of the crawling flower scrolls on drab backgrounds of cheap wallpapers. Simplicity and a blending of colour are the faith of Sir Bertram. In the building and furnishing of an Auckland home one might do very much worse than adopt it.