Franconia

136 The Terrace, WELLINGTON

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Franconia, on The Terrace, Wellington, was designed by well-known architect Edmund Anscombe in 1938, as residential apartments. The building was constructed in reinforced concrete, cast in situ, and is in a Streamline Moderne style, with some stylised classical elements. The curved streamlining of the Moderne style is evident on the front façade. Also prominent on the front façade are the three classically derived pilasters, which are purely stylistic, as are the capitals. Prominent on the north façade is the triangular oriel window extending four-storeys above the main entrance. The builder was L Daniels and it was built for Topic Ltd. The first and second floors were divided into two flats, there was one flat on the third floor, while the fourth and fifth floors housed a single two-level flat. There was also a flat behind the ground-floor garages. All the flats were rental properties and the tenants tended to be middle-class professionals. The architect, Edmund Anscombe (1874–1948) designed many buildings in Dunedin before moving to Wellington in 1929, where he is particularly known as the designer of the main buildings (now demolished) for the Centennial Exhibition (1939–1940). His Anscombe Flats, Oriental Parade, and the Post and Telegraph Building, Herd Street are two of his surviving Wellington buildings. In 1962 Franconia was sold to the Tourist Hotel Corporation (THC) and began its transformation into office use, renamed as Lintas House in the 1970s. In 1987 it was sold to Unity Developments Limited (UDL), who proposed to demolish the building and erect a 15 storey commercial building in its place. This was averted and the building was sold to Invincible Life Assurance Limited and renamed Invincible House. In February 1994 it gained some infamy as the scene where father and son businessmen Gene and Eugene Thomas were murdered in their offices. Franconia was one of 32 apartment blocks built in Wellington between the two world wars that helped see the capital city transformed into a modern city of tall office and apartment buildings. Its transformation from apartments to commercial space is also representative of changes at this end of The Terrace from the 1960s. It is one of only a few surviving buildings designed by architect Edmund Anscombe in Wellington. Its streamlined Moderne style, evident in the curved corners and horizontal ‘speed lines’, is here combined with stylised elements of the classical orders to make an interesting and unusual design.

Franconia | Vivienne Morrell | 29/05/2012 | NZ Historic Places Trust
Franconia. Rear (west elevation) | Vivienne Morrell | 29/05/2012 | NZ Historic Places Trust
Franconia. Detail on front facade | Vivienne Morrell | 29/05/2012 | NZ Historic Places Trust

Location

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 2

Access

Private/No Public Access

List Number

1364

Date Entered

5th May 2013

Date of Effect

5th May 2013

City/District Council

Wellington City

Region

Wellington Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent includes the land described as Lot 1 DP 64269 (RT WN33C/690), Wellington Land District and the building known as Franconia thereon. (Refer to map in Appendix 1 of the registration report for further information).

Legal description

Lot 1 DP 64269 (RT WN33C/690), Wellington Land District

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