Built in 1927-8 to a design by architect A. Sinclair O’Connor, the imposing four-storey Spanish Mission-style Espano Flats in Poynton Terrace has architectural and aesthetic significance for its intact and visually striking form, its setting among subtropical palms, and proximity to St Keven’s Arcade (1923-6) on Karangahape Road, a significant Auckland heritage streetscape. The distinctive block of twelve self-contained flats reflects increasing urbanisation in 1920s and 1930s society and private sector initiatives to capitalise on providing housing for an expanding clerical and professional workforce in New Zealand’s larger cities. Espano’s siting on the boundary of Myers Park, an area cleared of slum housing over a decade before, demonstrate early town philosophies relating to modern living and enjoyment of amenities.
Prior to European arrival, successive iwi and hapu groups occupied Horotiu, present-day Queen Street gully. Within eight years of creation of Auckland as colonial capital in 1840, a scoria house known as St Keven’s occupied the property; which was later transferred to Auckland merchant David Nathan (1816-86). In 1913, three hectares of slum land to the north was gifted to the city by former Auckland Mayor Sir Arthur Myers (1867-1926) promoter of the dominion’s first town-planning bill. Steps taken to improve the southern Queen Street and Karangahape Road area included installation of an electric tram line from the CBD in 1916. The subdivision and auctioning of the Nathan property in 1919 further encouraged redevelopment. Notwithstanding slow 1920s economic growth, Auckland builder William Thomas bought the site on the north side of then Pitt Terrace, in 1925. Stairs built at the head of the park in 1926 provided a short-cut from Karangahape Road to Auckland’s central business district, enhancing Thomas’ already attractive holding. Espano was one of a number of 1920s and 1930s private projects providing purpose-built flats for the expanding tertiary-sector workforce. Tenants who could afford to do so, deserted boarding houses for fashionable flats that offered greater independence and privacy within walking distance of city workplaces and amenities.
Underway by September 1927, the four-storey brick and ferro-concrete block was among Auckland’s largest building projects reported for 1927. Local architect A. Sinclair O’Connor (d.1945), had previously designed of a number of apartment blocks including what is said to be New Zealand’s first - Middle Courtville (1914). A departure from his earlier designs, Espano’s Spanish Mission Revival style reflected the adoption of a popular domestic architecture of the south western United States in warmer centres in New Zealand and capitalised on the visual qualities of Myers Park where subtropical plantings including palms were foreseen as early as 1913. Spanish Mission influences are evident in the building’s small narrow window spaces; the dominance of the wall massings; three grouped round-headed arches facing the park; and barley twist columns at the front entrance. Half-round tiles fringe the flat roof, a detail echoed in three dovecote chimney caps and a penthouse that housed a shared laundry. Internally, the three flats on every level each had a north-facing living room overlooking the park. Unlike many of its contemporaries, Espano did not have a lift.
A month after the 1929 Wall Street crash, Frederick Prouting (nephew of Dr Frederick Rayner, governing director of Amalgamated Theatres) bought the block, retaining it until 1946. The refurbished units were sold individually in 1986. Construction of penthouse apartments on the roof was avoided when four resident-owners bought the title in 1992.
Prior to European arrival, successive iwi and hapu groups occupied Horotiu, present-day Queen Street gully. Within eight years of creation of Auckland as colonial capital in 1840, a scoria house known as St Keven’s occupied the property; which was later transferred to Auckland merchant David Nathan (1816-86). In 1913, three hectares of slum land to the north was gifted to the city by former Auckland Mayor Sir Arthur Myers (1867-1926) promoter of the dominion’s first town-planning bill. Steps taken to improve the southern Queen Street and Karangahape Road area included installation of an electric tram line from the CBD in 1916. The subdivision and auctioning of the Nathan property in 1919 further encouraged redevelopment. Notwithstanding slow 1920s economic growth, Auckland builder William Thomas bought the site on the north side of then Pitt Terrace, in 1925. Stairs built at the head of the park in 1926 provided a short-cut from Karangahape Road to Auckland’s central business district, enhancing Thomas’ already attractive holding. Espano was one of a number of 1920s and 1930s private projects providing purpose-built flats for the expanding tertiary-sector workforce. Tenants who could afford to do so, deserted boarding houses for fashionable flats that offered greater independence and privacy within walking distance of city workplaces and amenities.
Underway by September 1927, the four-storey brick and ferro-concrete block was among Auckland’s largest building projects reported for 1927. Local architect A. Sinclair O’Connor (d.1945), had previously designed of a number of apartment blocks including what is said to be New Zealand’s first - Middle Courtville (1914). A departure from his earlier designs, Espano’s Spanish Mission Revival style reflected the adoption of a popular domestic architecture of the south western United States in warmer centres in New Zealand and capitalised on the visual qualities of Myers Park where subtropical plantings including palms were foreseen as early as 1913. Spanish Mission influences are evident in the building’s small narrow window spaces; the dominance of the wall massings; three grouped round-headed arches facing the park; and barley twist columns at the front entrance. Half-round tiles fringe the flat roof, a detail echoed in three dovecote chimney caps and a penthouse that housed a shared laundry. Internally, the three flats on every level each had a north-facing living room overlooking the park. Unlike many of its contemporaries, Espano did not have a lift.
A month after the 1929 Wall Street crash, Frederick Prouting (nephew of Dr Frederick Rayner, governing director of Amalgamated Theatres) bought the block, retaining it until 1946. The refurbished units were sold individually in 1986. Construction of penthouse apartments on the roof was avoided when four resident-owners bought the title in 1992.
