The Civic's elephant frieze

 

Auckland's Civic Theatre ("The Mighty Civic") was restored 70 years after its opening. Much was made of the interiors, the Indian motifs throughout.

But yesterday, while waiting for the start of the Auckland City Council shindig closing the Heritage Festival, I spotted this.

This is one of two fragments of a elephant-design ceramic frieze which once edged the Civic's lobby and foyer. One is in the doorway leading to Stark's cafe next door (pictured).

According to the heritage plaque on the wall above each portion, "When the original floor was removed and replaced with Terrazzo, eight isolated pieces of the frieze tiling survived beneath projecting wall decorations above. These sections (shaded in the diagram below) were sufficient to reconstruct the repeating pattern, and have been placed within the pair of restored panels either side of this space, using infill of new tiles made to match."

The mosaic restoration was a gift from George Farrant, long-time heritage manager in Auckland City Council and a man passionate about the restoration of the Civic.