Demolition of Bay hall may block Unesco bid

Napier's chances of becoming a world heritage site could be set back by the demolition of St John's cathedral hall, the Historic Places Trust says.

The city is hoping it can generate a tourism boom by having Unesco recognise the art deco quarter as a world heritage site.

The hall is not an art deco building but the Historic Places Trust had given it a category 1 classification and central region manager Ann Neill said there had been a lot of support for its preservation.

"While the building's heritage value is our primary interest, the wider issue about the hall's demolition is that it could have implications for Napier City Council's move to seek recognition from Unesco as a world heritage site," she said. "Napier is rightly proud of the protection offered to some of its historic places, thanks to the council's district plan.

"However, the loss of heritage buildings in the area that survived the 1931 earthquake could affect the city's chances of earning this internationally coveted recognition."

Last week, the council turned down the trust's request to list the hall as a heritage building, and demolition of the disused building in Hastings St starts today.

Mayor Barbara Arnott said the loss of the hall should not impact on the move toward world heritage status, unless people in New Zealand agitated about it. "We live in a city that is dynamic and we have to move ahead," she said.

Napier is on New Zealand's short list of places that could be recommended to Unesco for heritage recognition.

Cathedral dean Helen Jacobi said the demolition of the disused hall in Hastings St had been held up for a year by the Historic Places Trust. "We are relieved to be finally moving ahead with this project a year on," Mrs Jacobi said.

"We have wasted hundreds of staff and volunteer hours, and spent a lot of money on professional fees. The cathedral's ministry has been put in jeopardy."

After the demolition, the church plans to expand its leased car parking space in Cathedral Lane and build a new, smaller hall.

The trust wanted to preserve the hall because it was the only Gothic-style building in the central city that survived the 1931 earthquake - though it was badly damaged and rebuilt - but Mrs Jacobi said it was an earthquake risk. "Two developers had taken a serious look at the building and had declined to make an offer, saying it was not commercially viable," she said.

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Patrick Leamy   #1   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

It is unfortunate to hear that Napier will yet again be needlessly losing another of its heritage buildings, under the pretense of 'moving ahead'.

What undignified defeat to the only Gothic Style survivor of the 1931 earthquake, to now succumb to the hands of the Cultural Vandals. How can it be justified that the loss of a heritage building for the gain of more carpark space is 'progress'?

Being spellbound by the glamour of the Art Deco buildings should not be any reason for considering non-Art Deco heritage buildings to be any less worthy of preservation. Such irresponsibility has already seen the needless and wanton demolition of heritage buildings in Napier, including the underhanded demolition of the Napier Wool Exchange Building.

When will the Napier City Council step up to the mark, and accept its Statutory Obligation under Section 7 of the Resource Management Act to "have particular regard to recognition and protection of the heritage values of sites, buildings, places or areas". If the Historic Places Trust is recommending to the Council that a heritage building is worthy of preservation, shouldn't the Council be listening to such advice?

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