Dilworth Building Explained

Dilworth Building
Building Type:Mixed-use
Architectural Style:Neo-classical
Address:Corner of Customs Street and Queen Street
Inauguration Date:1927
Architect:William Gummer & Reginald Ford

The Dilworth Building is a heritage mixed-use (residential apartments and shops on the ground floor) building at the corner of Customs Street and Queen Street in the Auckland CBD, New Zealand. The building by William Gummer & Reginald Ford was constructed between 1925 and 1927, and is listed as a Category I Historic building by Heritage New Zealand.

At the lower entry to Queen Street, the building was once envisaged as one half of a 'gateway' to the city, and hailed as a visionary concept. However, the mirroring building on the opposite side of Queen Street was never constructed.[1]

History

The building was constructed at the behest of James Dilworth as a rental property to help fund students at the Dilworth Ulster Institute (which later became Dilworth School). Originally the Dilworth Trust Board office was on the 9th floor (with a mezzanine floor) while the rest of the building was let out to tenants. The building was sold by the Dilworth Trust in the 1980s, but it still retains some of the original interiors.

It has housed the American consulate, and during World War II served as headquarters for the U.S. Army.

External links

-36.8449°N 174.7668°W

Notes and References

  1. Past Present: the Visionary Architecture of Gummer and Ford - Stacpoole, John; Friday 14 July 2006. Accessed 2008-02-08