Historic Significance

Historical Significance or Value The Auckland Savings Bank opened for business in 1847 and has been a major part of Auckland commerce since that date. Among its founders it counted John Logan Campbell, J Dilworth and J J Montefiore, all three prominent Auckland businessmen who were closely involved in the building of the city as a main commercial centre. The opening of the new Head Office in Queen Street was part of the general prosperity and accompanying building boom in the early 1880s. Between 1881 and 1884 there was a period of cheap credit and speculative building which changed the structure of Auckland. Rapid urban growth transformed the raw colonial town into a respectable, well established city. Banks were particularly keen investors in buildings. The Bank of New Zealand did substantial renovations to its head office in Auckland, and the Bank of New South Wales erected new premises on Queen Street. The Auckland Savings Bank's building was substantial and expensive, designed to inspire confidence. This it came to need, as the property boom collapsed in 1885, along with many businesses, leading Auckland into the depression. However 1884 saw the opening of the Head Office performed by the Governor Lieutenant General Sir William Jervois and attended by 'a large influential gathering' (Auckland Evening Star 8 May 1884 pg.4). The Auckland Evening Star linked the prosperity of the bank with the prosperity of Auckland. It described the ASB as 'the storehouse of the results of industry and providence on the part of our working classes'. The opening of the bank was therefore seen as a symbol of Auckland's commercial health. The building remained as the ASB head office until 1968. One of the major events in the history of the building was run on the bank which occurred in September 1893. Over 41,000 pounds sterling was withdrawn in one day by panic stricken depositors. However the bank survived the crisis by paying out the money in full and confidence was soon restored. In 1968 the building was bought by Kerridge Odeon and then passed on to a MacDonalds fast food franchise which established a restaurant there.

Physical Significance

Architectural Significance: The ASB building is an example of a building type that evolved in the Victorian era, the Bank. It is an important remaining example of commercial architecture and one of the few examples of this period left on Queen Street. In the late Victorian era the Italianate palazzi had become the accepted model for bank buildings. The strict rules of proportion and order no longer governed the style. The classical had once stood 'for ideas of order and harmony in general which were thought to be derived from nature, God and the universe' (Victorian Architecture). The renaissance sources however were chosen as a model for their association with commerce and banking, Consequently the classical dimensions could be adjusted to suit utilitarian requirements as daylighting. The abundance of decoration was significant as is displayed the wealth and status of the bank. The design was chosen by competition and the brief called for 'the front to be of stone and of an ornate character' (ASB Minutes). The bank contrasted with the original timber building which surrounded it. The choice of stone type was important and the debate is recorded in the minutes of the bank. It was ' moved that the committee send home for Aberdeen granite pillars forthwith'. (ASB Minutes). The bank was described as a 'monument to thrift' and the ideas of security, stability and continuity are associated with stone. The design of Edward Bartley which was selected obviously reflected most closely the trustees ides of a bank building. Townscape/Landmark Significance: The ASB and the Westpac building next door form an important group of Victorian neoclassical commercial buildings. This pair of buildings are both now over 100 years old and few buildings remain, of that age, in Queen Street. These buildings and the Strand Arcade opposite provide an example of the scale, character and eclectic style of the buildings which formed the Victorian streetscape.