Historic cottage bulldozed
Couple plan house on section with panoramic views
A135-year-old cottage on death row for four years has finally been demolished for a large fourbedroom house. David Elder and Wynnis Armour bought the house in Paget St, Freemans Bay, in 2010 for $2 million. The property with panoramic views of the Auckland city skyline is now valued at $2.95m, of which the land is worth $2.85m.
The simple white-painted cottage with a blue corrugatediron roof survived for four years but was removed last week.
Auckland Council’s central consents manager, Mark White, said, “We were not notified of the demolition but there was no legal obligation for the applicant to do so”.
The council has not granted consent for the new house, which is bigger than the allowable site coverage and infringes the height-to-boundary rules. The application is on hold awaiting more information from the couple.
Armour did not respond to approaches through the recruitment company she and Elder founded. Sarah Burgess, the planner from Barker & Associates preparing the application for the couple, said she was under instructions not to talk to the media. Plans lodged with the council show the couple are planning a 234sq m house on the 685sq m section in keeping with the two-to-three-storey villas along the western side of Paget St. The plans show the house will be three storeys at the front with a lowerlevel triple garage and mostly single storey at the rear. The high-spec house has a master bedroom opening out to a swimming pool, courtyard, fireplace and pergola. Other features include a library, gym or wine cellar. It will have tra- ditional corrugated roofing.
The cottage dating back to at least 1882 made headlines in 2012 when the Weekend Herald learned a council planner who believed demolition consent should be declined on conservation grounds was replaced by a consultant planner who granted consent.
A subsequent review found the council followed the correct procedures, but it was also possible that a different conclusion could have been reached which would have been equally defensible.
Waitemata councillor Mike Lee, who chairs the council’s heritage advisory panel, has called the Paget St case hurtful and believes the current system is rigged against protecting heritage in favour of “Johnny-comelately developers”.
Another member of the advisory panel, Helen Geary, said demolition of the cottage was really sad news.
She said the cottage was considered worth preserving under the previous Auckland City Council rules, which required resource consent to demolish in the special character suburb.
Geary said heritage protection had not been strengthened under the new Unitary Plan and it was the second demolition of a significant heritage house in a week, citing the loss of an “art deco treasure” on the seafront at Takapuna.