NZ Visual Diary - entry 245

Metropolis Museum building

Various online sources report that the Metropolis Museum was built in 1933 for the First Church of Christ, Scientist, to support its congregational and Sunday school services. It was sold in the late 1990s and, after extensive interior renovation, was repurposed as the Metropolis Museum in 2003 to serve as offices and events space.

Across the first three decades of the 20 century, Auckland’s architectural aesthetic was heavily influenced by the neo-classical and Greek revival movements that had enthralled Europe and North America in the previous two centuries. The Metropolis Museum is an excellent example of that infatuation.

The building is currently closed and for sale; and while its exterior is protected by a heritage designation, the building’s interior may be suitable again as an event venue, educational centre or perhaps, as some real estate agents have suggested, ornate residential compound.