Life in Flats

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 560, 12 January 1929, Page 6

Life in Flats

What Auckland Offers Citv-Dweller

IN ten years Auckland has seriously threatened to develop a race of fiat-dwellers. Blocks of flats, bringing with them the residential complex peculiar to their environment, have become a substantial entity in community life, and houses in the near suburbs have been transformed to accommodate several families under one roof. In the face of transport problems, people in all walks of life have chosen to live in rooms to be close to the city.

■yt T HEN the idea of flat life first suggested itself as a timely solution of an acute housing shortage, it was regarded in the light of a temporary measure designed to meet tiresome difficulties. The homing spirit of our young womanhood, it was thought, was too deep-seated to be cajoled into abandoning forever the mirage of a suburban cottage with flower beds and vegetable garden complete. To-day the young wife goes about her domestic duties radiantly happy in a furnished fiat of two rooms and kitchenette because she is close to the city’s bright lights, and because her husband is only one tram section from his business. Yet what does this young couple forfeit in life’s big game? Are they not

content to buy their vegetables the Chinese gardener and their blooms from the florist, to hang their clothes on the community back verandah, and to live in apartments where the struggle for possession of the bathroom ends in the survival of the fit- : test? • ! ; Flatting has come to stay, and enter- j prise in Auckland, as elsewhere, has willingly met the changed condition. The day of the ill-appointed converted house is passing, and modern sixstoreyed structures, with sun-porches facing a glorious harbour view are now j available —at a price. In the past j three years flat-tenancy has becoms intense some call it a modern disease—and men holding small sections of land close to the city are con- : sidered to be wise investors if they place their capital into the erection of up-to-date apartments. There are definite zones for flats in ! Auckland. Parnell, looking north- | west to the harbour, Grafton and Park Roads, Park Avenue and Waterloo ! Quadrant, all possessing their distinc-' j tive advantages, have become thickly j i populated by them. In spite of the I

i high prices of £6 6s and £7 *s for | iop floors, modern places are being eagerly sought, and almost before the foundations were laid in one of the latest blocks, a leading member of the New Zealand judiciary had peni cilled-in the choice suite. PRICES MUST FALL | That there are too many flats on the market for the immediate demand : seems to be indicated by the fact that in the Grafton district one or two j places have been empty for nearly a year, and in some other suburbs there ■ has been a tendency for anything hut! the most convenient to hang fire. This probably is caused by the fact that flat-owners have not yet realised that i prices must fall as the supply becomes j more prolific. Tenants are enabled' 1 to exercise a fastidious choice while the market is glutted, and when the ! present building programme is complete this privilege will be enhanced. The higher one rises from the ; ground, the better is the view, andi ! consequently the higher the rent. But j as the couple ■with a modest income j \ cannot live on harbour outlook alone, a little determined negotiation over j price usually reduces the outside figure ! first asked for weekly tenancy. In 1 many cases £1 a week is dropped! from the original demand. Initiative has played a substantial I part in flat-erection in Auckland, and i the prospect has been made more at- ! tractive by the appearance of one- j storey semi-detached houses with j complete front and back yard, and! i separate entrance, the only connection with next door being a thick brick wall and a low paling fence. One block of fiats in the city was erected on the co-operative plan, all occupants posi sessing a proportionate share in the ownership. Usually, however, a tenant must realise that his flat residence never will become his own. HAND OF ENTERPRISE

Most flats are furnished. Here, too, an improvement is noticeable, and the modern place is being brought more or less into line with the agent’s advertisement of “all home comforts.” In some places the walls are adorned by pictures of another age, and the furniture is genuine antique—of the wrong order. There is still a persistent refusal by builders to instal fireplaces, despite the recognised popularity of the grate and the comparative aversion from the electric radiator. One of the new blocks is fitted with a shute connecting each apartment with an automatic rubbish destructor in the centrebasement of the building. Many are now installing electric hotwater systems—for which the tenants pay—thus eliminating forever the penny bath, and penny califont method of existence, and some provide laundries on the roof. Flatting, then, has become a permanent feature in Auckland life. Its advantages are apparent in the proximity to the city and the saving in tram fares; its disadvantages are j equally emphasised to those who have adopted this mode of living. To some people, of course, the suburban villa is still the haunt of domestic peace, but to others the house and garden is a legend of the past. Individual choice must eventually govern in this phase of transition.