Olesen’s Building (former) 237-241 Manukau Road, Epsom Heritage Assessment PREPARED FOR Auckland Council Job # 2016-124 | March 2017 1.0 Purpose The purpose of this document is to consider the place located at 237-241 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland against the criteria for evaluation of historic heritage in the Auckland Unitary Plan, Operative in Part version. The document has been prepared by Salmond Reed Architects Ltd on the specific instructions of their client, Auckland Council. It is solely for the use of Auckland Council for the purpose it is intended, in accordance with the agreed scope of work. 2.0 Identification 237-241 Manukau Road, Epsom Site address Auckland Legal description and Certificate of Lot 2 DP 53250 Title identifier CT 37A / 255 Easting 1758217.46, Northing NZTM grid 5916420.31, Longitude 174.775450, reference Latitude -36.884936 Ownership Ching Hsiang Liu and Fu-Mei Yeh Auckland Unitary Plan Business Mixed Zone Existing Epsom War Memorial Arch [corner scheduled Manukau and Ranfurly Road] ID # 02732, item(s) Category B Additional controls Not applicable NZHPT listing Not listed with Heritage New Zealand details Pouhere Taonga Pre-1900 site No, the building does not predate 1900 (HPA Section and has no identified archaeological 2a(i) and 2b) values CHI reference/s No recorded CHI number at present NZAA site record number/s No recorded NZAA number at present Olesen’s Building, 237-241 Manukau Road Epsom | Heritage Assessment 2 3.0 Constraints This evaluation does not include consideration of: • the archaeological values of the site; and • the importance of the place to mana whenua • condition or structural integrity • the building interiors The evaluation is based on a research summary by historian, Lisa J Truttman, additional information provided by Council and on a visual inspection of the place from Manukau Road, undertaken on 18 January 2017. 4.0 Historical summary A full historical outline is attached in Appendix 1. The succinct summary which follows is based on this history and augmented by additional research undertaken by the consultant. The commercial building on the Manukau / Ranfurly Road corner in Epsom takes its name from its original owners, Byrge and Catherine Olesen. From 1890, this couple ran a corner grocery store in a timber building attached to a house behind. They subsequently purchased the land from Mrs Emma Boyes in early 1894. [See Appendix 2 for a c. 1901 image of the timber store and a c. 1904 portrait of the Olesen family.] Byrge had emigrated from Denmark in 1879, eventually settling in Auckland and working on the nearby One Tree Hill farm belonging to Sir John Logan Campbell [and later gifted to the City and designated “Cornwall Park” to mark the occasion of the 1901 visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall]. Naturalised as a British Citizen in 1886, Byrge Olesen married Catherine McMaster in 1890. From 1896 their grocery store was the venue for meetings of the Epsom Road Board and by 1901 the store included a postal agency as well as a telephone bureau. The footprint of this store is indicated on the 1922 subdivision plan shown in Appendix 3. In 1923 the original timber store was replaced with a double storey brick structure to the design of local architect, John Park. This building contained a large corner shop space with storeroom at ground level and five offices at the upper level. Adjoining this, further along the Manukau Road frontage, were two additional shops with rear kitchen and service rooms and bedrooms above. The Olesens used the corner store for their grocery business until B. P. Olesen died in 1948. It then became the Higgins and Fitzgeralds Four Square grocery store1 and currently houses the Four Seasons [Chinese] Restaurant. The upstairs offices have been used variously by a dressmaker, music teacher and a dentist. A sign above the Ranfurly Road door advertises Vinny the 1 The History of Epsom, ed. Graham Bush p.296 Olesen’s Building, 237-241 Manukau Road Epsom | Heritage Assessment 3 Tailor, so there have been dressmaking / tailoring services in the building for some years. The middle shop had a succession of occupants. A baker, and later a confectioner occupied the premises and then, from the mid 1930s until 2012, it was used as a dairy. By late 2015 it had assumed its current use as a gift and souvenir shop. Waymouth’s Pharmacy has occupied the northern end shop since 1923 and their family ownership of the building was only recently relinquished in 2012. John Park Architect, John Park, was a well-known local figure, having served three terms as Mayor of Onehunga in the inter-war period, 1919-1944. On leaving school he was articled to a ‘leading architect’ in Auckland and by 1907 was in business as a draughtsman. He designed many local buildings and was Onehunga Borough Architect by 1909. In addition to the Olesen’s Building, other Park designed buildings include the following: 1908 The Seddon Memorial, built on the roundabout at Royal Oak, as a memorial to Prime Minister Seddon [1845- 1906]. This was a hexagonal structure with a shelter and drinking fountain and a memorial lamp at roof level. 2 It was demolished in 1948, since it was impeding traffic. 1911 Manukau Yacht and Motor Boat Club, Orpheus Drive, Onehunga, PAUP # 02598 Category B, built for the club and recognised as the oldest remaining yacht club building in New Zealand.3 It has served as the Aotea Sea Scout Hall for many years and currently faces relocation due to Transit New Zealand’s proposal for road widening. 1911 Carnegie Library, 55 Princes Street, Onehunga. PAUP # 01817 Category B, HNZ Category 1 List # 4796. 1911 Coronation Hall, Onehunga, [not located]. It appears to have been moved from its original site by the Onehunga Citizens Band. 1911 Former Arcadia Billiards Saloon, 197 Onehunga Mall, built 1907, extended 1911 by John Park, PAUP #02614, Category B. This building is a character defining building within the Onehunga Special Character Area; Business. 2 Timespanner.blogspot.co.nz/2011/09seddonsmemorials 3 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10429933 Olesen’s Building, 237-241 Manukau Road Epsom | Heritage Assessment 4 1912 Extensions to the Onehunga Woollen Mills, 273 Neilson Street, Te Papapa, location unknown. The nineteenth century portion of the mills is HNZ listed Category 2, Reg No 524,PAUP # 1756, Category B. 1913 Private hospital in Palmerston North, [not located]. 1913 Additional storey and alterations to Tonson Garlic’s, the ‘Peoples Furnishing Warehouse’4 in Queen Street. This building was incorporated into the St James Theatre complex and this portion of it has now been demolished. 1913 Tenders for erection of three cottages in Willow Street, Onehunga.5 1915 Men’s and Women’s Bathing sheds in Onehunga, once located on the Onehunga foreshore, where the very first businesses had formerly operated. Demolished. 1916 Boot Factory for Moore and Co, Newton Place [not located]. 1916 The ‘largest marquee in Auckland’ at ‘Cintra’ the Symonds Street house of the Hon. Arthur Myers for a Garden Fête in aid of the Women’s Mutual Aid Society.6 1916 Mangere East Hall, [now Metro Theatre] 362 Massey Road Mangere East. A brick and concrete hall, PAUP #1444, Category B. 1917 Bungalow residence for the Hastie family, 64 Mountain Road, Mangere Bridge.7 1923 Tenders for timber additions to the Onehunga Presbyterian Sunday School, Queen Street, Onehunga.8 1925 Tenders called for erection of a residence for A. K. McFarlane Esq., Ocean View Road.9 1927 Tenders for the erection of two shops at Te Papapa, Onehunga.10 Shops and office premises for H. Bray, 235-245 Onehunga Mall. This building is a character defining building within the Onehunga Special Character Area; Business 1926 Onehunga Fire Station, Onehunga Mall. Demolished. 4 NZ Herald, 12 May 1913, p.12. 5 NZ Herald, 26 April 1913, p.14. 6 Observer, 09 December 1916, Advertisements, column 2. 7 Jane Matthews, Matthews and Matthews Architects, pers com. 8 NZ Herald, 15 December 1923, p.3. 9 NZ Herald, September 1925, p.8, col 2. 10 NZ Herald, 4 May 1927,p.3. Olesen’s Building, 237-241 Manukau Road Epsom | Heritage Assessment 5 1928 Block of 7 shops for Enos S. Pegler in Manurewa. 1928 Memorial arch / gates to Jellicoe Park, Onehunga, built from scoria. In close proximity to the arch is a memorial fountain erected in memory of Mayor Park. 1930 Premises for Brown and Sons, Karangahape Road [not located]. 1935 Wellsford butchery [not located]. The design of the Olesen’s Building at 237-241 Manukau Road is loosely influenced by elements of classical architecture, sometimes known as the Inter-War Free Classical Style. This style did not adhere to the correct use of classical elements and motifs; rather, they were applied at whim, an example here being the parapet top cornices. The Inter-War Free Classical Style is also evidenced in the central Manukau Road facing pediment, bearing the name of the building, and in the use of cornices and dentils to divide the façade horizontally for compositional purposes. These are placed above the verandah line, to the window heads, below the pediment and finally atop the substantial parapet. The use of brick, on the other hand, exhibits influences of the concurrently popular Arts and Crafts style. Park’s work encompassed a wide range of building types, including many shops and he showed his versatility by designing in a variety of styles as he considered appropriate to the particular task in hand. 5.0 Physical Description Site The subject site is a 531m2 rectangular block, located on the north western side of the Ranfurly / Manukau Road intersection.