NZ Visual Diary - entry 387
Hotel De Britt
Located at the corner of High & Southland Streets in central Auckland, the Hotel De Britt exudes old world charm. Its architecture and interior design display fidelities both to Art Deco and Early Modern sensibilities.
The Art Deco touch of metal ornamentation on the entrance doors, with its striking overlay of line and curve, along with the parade of geometrically assorted and colour arrayed ceiling lamps within the reception lobby, are stellar highlights within this entry’s photograph.
The bar and restaurant floor also captures the eclectic elegance of the hotel’s interior design. I especially like the restaurant wall detail I have reproduced below.
In 1970 (when I was 13), my parents went on a world trip. They were old-fashioned orchardists and very returned with revised, and quite cosmopolitan, attitudes. Suddenly, we began having wine with our meals and, quite often, we would go to dine at de Bretts, which felt very posh and continental. At the time there were only a handful of licensed (i.e. able to sell wine) restaurants in all of Auckland. It was nice to see your pictures and have some special memories resurrected.