NZ Visual Diary - entry 277

mixing it up

I enjoy capturing cross-sectional images that illustrate the history of a city centre’s commercial architecture. In this instance, I photographed a collection of commercial buildings along Queen Street in Auckland’s city centre, which when viewed together are representative (but not exhaustive) of architectural styles that mark the 20th century.

In the foreground we have the figure of the New Zealand Guardian Trust Building at 105 Queen Street, an impressive edifice built during World War 1. Of the building’s distinction, Heritage New Zealand notes:

The New Zealand Guardian Trust Building is significant as the earliest remaining high-rise office block in Auckland, reflecting important changes in commercial design and the organisation of business in early twentieth-century New Zealand.

Designed by William Gummer, the new structure was modelled on turn-of-the-century commercial buildings in America and elsewhere, and was of Stripped Classical style. Stripped Classical adapted nineteenth-century classical architecture to the requirements of twentieth-century office blocks, which included a need for height and a large amount of natural light. The size of the new headquarters dramatically exceeded most other office structures in the city, enabling the company to project an image of solidity and wealth . . . ¹

The other bookend in this entry’s photograph is the SAP Tower, a building completed in 1989 within the modern glass and steel architectural style — often referred to as podium and tower construction — that were erected worldwide in urban commercial centres across the latter years of the 1900s.

1. Heritage New Zealand | New Zealand Guardian Trust Building
< https://www.heritage.org.nz/list-details/623/Listing >