The milk stand, the tram pole and the heritage debate
An unusual assortment of items including a concrete milk stand and a singular tram pole are up for heritage listing in Wellington’s new district plan.
Over the next few weeks, lawyers and experts will debate what should receive historic heritage status in Wellington’s new district plan.
The final decision will be up to a panel of resource management commissioners.
Some of the heritage listings put forward by the Wellington City Council are opposed by the building owners – for example, Victoria University of Wellington will continue its long-running fight to delist the run-down Gordon Wilson flats at the hearings.
Councillor and heritage advocate Iona Pannett said it was important to remember that the heritage listings, no matter how unusual they may seem, had been through a rigorous process.
‘‘It’s not just someone going, ‘That looks interesting’. There will be research to back it up.’’
One item up for listing is the Glenside Milk Stand, which was used in the 20th century for holding milk cans from local farms to be collected by the milk truck.
It is a ‘‘fine example nationally’’ of milk stands that used to be a common part of life, the report notes.
People would wait at the milk stand for deliveries of milk from passing trucks, at a time when the council’s Wellington Municipal Milk Supply Department was the only supplier of milk in the city.
The milk stand is now overgrown, but the assessors said it was valued by the local community and could make ‘‘a more significant contribution’’ if the vegetation was cleared.
Another forgotten item of Wellington’s history up for listing is a singular tram pole on Jervois Quay.
Tram poles held the cables which connected to electric trams and were well-known at the time for presenting a public danger, with serious injuries and fatalities from collisions with pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.
The tram pole was the only one left standing in the city and has survived several changes to the layout of Jervois Quay.
‘‘Today it is Wellington’s last surviving tram pole and is a rare testament to the beloved tramway system that was the country’s first public transport system,’’ the heritage report notes.
Passers-by were unlikely to be aware of the pole and its history, so the report also recommended a plaque explaining its history.
The Wharenui Apartments on Oriental Parade, built in 1960 with an ‘‘innovative design’’, were also nominated by the council.
The building significantly contributed to the area along with the other modernist apartments in Oriental Bay.
But the company which runs the building will ask the commissioners not to heritage list the building – it is concerned that future upgrades such as double-glazing windows would be much more difficult with the listing in place.
Pannett said although it could be difficult to demolish or change heritage buildings, the council had a heritage fund to support maintenance work.
Heritage was constantly evolving, so buildings from the 1960s and 1970s were now up for heritage listings.
‘‘In 100 years time we will look back on modernist buildings and the part they play in our story. I look forward to the fact that one day we will have buildings which are 200 years old,’’ Pannett said.
‘‘Once they’re gone, they’re gone.’’
‘‘Once they’re gone, they’re gone.’’ Iona Pannett Councillor and heritage advocate