Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Majestic Centre

I love buildings, and there are some real stunners in Wellington - St Mary of the Angels, the Public Trust and the law school are amazing achitechtual achievements in my eyes. Pretty much every unreinforced masonary building on Cuba Street is gorgeous, even if they are going to fall down in the next decent earthquake.

But the Majestic Centre, the tallest building in the city and a Wellington icon, wouldn't make my list of stunners. Its ugly crown protudes above all else. It's interesting and I am glad it's there, but I don't think it's much of a looker.
The building in front was the home of the Dominion Post for 50 years and is now mainly Athfield-designed appartments. Built in the late 1920's, it is now heritage listed. The facade is made from Caen stone but has since been painted. Thankfully the marble foyer has escaped that fate. Here's a cool old photo of it for people who like that sort of thing.

Just couple of years ago this view would have been blocked by the overbridge between the library and council buildings - that was removed in the post-Christchurch-quake legislation change early this decade, around the same time the Majestic Centre was reinforced at a cost of $83million. Natural disasters have a much wider impact than those which are immediately obvious.

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