NZ Visual Diary - entry 314

Senior College building - Auckland Central (Lorne Street)

Back in the day, a couple of hundred years ago, when I was in my 20s and teaching high school social studies, I worked across several summers for a third generation Welch stone mason. I was his tender - the grunt who mixed cement (‘mud’ as Cliff called it) and hoisted building materials (mud; brick; cement block; stone) to whatever scaffolding level above ground Cliff worked in any given day. I grew to adore brick and worship stone . . . and jealously covet Cliff’s masonry skills.

In numerous previous posts, I have also waxed poetic about my love for Art Deco style architecture. The Senior College building featured in today’s post marks a confluence of my architectural obsessions for materials and styles alike.

For many years, the Senior College building at Lorne Street housed an advanced secondary school programme. While the programme has moved to another location, this magnificent Art Deco building, an Auckland City heritage edifice, has been repurposed to serve as the visual anchor - the architectural foundation - of a major construction undertaking. When the project has been completed, the Senior College building will be the front-facing facade of a multi-story student housing complex for a city-centre university.

I note here with unrestrained delight and admiration the remarkable brick work: varied and intricate sets of geometric design patterns, a hallmark of the Art Deco style.