NZ Visual Diary - entry 170

Old Ponsonby Fire Station

Alternately called the old Ponsonby or St Marys fire station, this tired but still lovely 1902 building on St Marys Road in Auckland has been home to any number of commercial ventures beyond its original purpose-built function in the public safety arena.

St Marys Bay is one of several posh suburbs, including Ponsonby and Herne Bay, that reside within the Auckland Isthmus and along the southern shore of Waitematā (Auckland) Harbour.

The fire station’s turn-of-the-century architecture anticipates design elements of the Art Deco style some decades later. I refer here to the radiating panels of glass that form a decorative window above the door lintel and below the impressive arch with its repeated pattern of recessed and raised voussoirs. The window prefigurement of the Art Deco style is presented again, along with decorative pediment, above the smaller door on the right side of the front facade.

While the building has been placed on the auction block on several occasions, its historic value designation has kept a wrecking ball at bay. One can only hope that a preservation project, as yet unannounced, will restore the building’s original lustre and architectural prominence.