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The Auckland Council is granting $534,241 towards projects that will help protect and conserve significant historic places in Auckland over the next year.
Its heritage manager, Noel Reardon, said 27 repair and restoration works will be able to go ahead with funding from the council’s regional historic heritage grants programme for 2025/2026.
“They include two neighbouring historic heritage places in central Auckland, identified in the Auckland Unitary Plan, both in need of restoration work to preserve their remarkable assets.”
Courtville and Middle Courtville residential buildings stand proudly on Parliament Street in the city, providing grandiose examples of architecture popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Courtville contains the first electric lift in a residential building in Auckland, which has received a boost for much-needed maintenance, says Kim Jones, on behalf of the body corporate.
“We’re grateful for the grant, which helps offset some of the costs of maintaining a heritage building like ours.
“This year, we’re planning a specialist concrete clean for the exterior. This will enhance the building’s street appeal, especially since many Aucklanders and visitors stop to take photos, sometimes for wedding shots and magazines.”
Middle Courtville will have the essential restoration of its west wall completed to protect the fabric of the building into the future.
“Built in 1915, Courtville introduced New Zealand to elegant European-inspired city apartment living,” Jones said.
“Once home to independent working women and later rescued from demolition, it stands as a rare survivor of Auckland’s early urban ambitions.
“Courtville’s character and social history still show how thoughtful, human-centred design can shape a city.”
The council says the regional historic heritage grants programme supports mana whenua, community organisations, and property owners to care for and protect historic heritage by enabling private and community investment in restoration projects that may otherwise be unmanageable.
Successful applicants in the latest funding round include three Māori heritage projects, the council said.
One is for the stabilisation of an urupā or burial ground near Tapapakanga Regional Park (near Orere Point), a site of significance to mana whenua.
The council has allocated funding for regional historic heritage grants for nine years, with up to $50,000 available for each application.
To be eligible, projects must focus on significant heritage places, sites, buildings, objects and notable trees of special value, as listed in the Auckland Unitary Plan or Auckland Council District Plan Hauraki Gulf Islands Section.
All projects are expected to be completed in the year ahead, with each recipient asked to report back on how the grant has been used and what has been achieved through the funding, the council said.
