Monday, October 12, 2009

A big bit of Parnell, from Avondale


Heading along Parnell Road, at the top of Parnell Rise are the Mayfair Flats, completed in 1929. They were designed by Gummer & Ford, and built by Fletcher Construction Co. Ltd (who owned them until 1939). As this was towards the end of the period in which Fletchers owned the Avondale brickyard at St George's Road (re-named by them Glenburn Fireclay & Pottery Co) -- that's where the bricks and original roof tiles were sourced from.


So -- a quite substantiual part of present-day Parnell stems from ol' Avondale, out west. Probably more does, too, but so far, this one has been identified, thanks to the new history of Fletcher Construction, No Job Too Big (2009, Vol. 1). This was the reason for my Parnell stroll yesterday, in case anyone who knows me from out that way was wondering.

Last edit: 5 December 2017



3 comments:

  1. I'm not a big fan of flats/apartments as a rule but those have character and flair.
    AND they seem to have remained relatively untouched.

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  2. Some fairly classy designs emerged in Auckland in the 1920s-1930s as far as apartments went. I'm with you, Jayne, such is not usually my interest -- but the Mayfair Flats catch the eye, and ... they're a vertical chunk of my home suburb.

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  3. When I was a young bloke in the 1950s I used to deliver groceries to these apartments. Nice to see they haven't changed much over the years

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