The building at 84-86 Symonds Street was once two separate houses and medical practices, later merged into one. Erected in the mid-1930s, the initial brick residences were purpose-built for two prominent doctors to designs by the renowned Auckland architect Malcolm Keith Draffin. At the time, doctors often had their ‘rooms’ in their family home. Symonds Street contained a cluster of such houses: located comparatively close to Auckland Hospital in nearby Grafton, the thoroughfare was known as the ‘Harley Street of Auckland’. Today the building is significant as containing two examples of brick interwar neo-Georgian residences and surgeries that reflect this activity. The place also forms a visually distinctive part of the Symonds Street historic landscape, which held high-status associations during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The building occupies two former lots created as part of an 1885 residential subdivision on the east side of Symonds Street. Lot 8, the northern-most of the two sections, was the entrance to the well-known Cintra property, once the residence of Sir Arthur Myers. To the south, Lot 7 was occupied by a timber dwelling erected for widow Mary Ann Pilkington, said to have been built in 1885.
The house at 84 Symonds Street was built in 1935-6 for trailing-blazing general practitioner Dr Elaine Gurr (1896–1996). In the 1920s Gurr had worked for the Department of Health setting up the country’s first antenatal clinics, and training Plunket nurses and midwives. In 1932 she set up a general practice in Symonds Street, and three years later had this house built. She worked and lived there for 30 years. Gurr later became the first woman to be made an honorary fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. The house was erected as a two-storey brick building, with the front half of the ground floor taken up by waiting and consulting rooms, with a dining room, kitchen and small bedroom behind. Upstairs was a lounge, two more bedrooms and a sunroom; a standalone garage was at the front. The design, by M.K. Draffin was neo-Georgian - an architectural style that was synonymous with upper-middle-class concepts of good taste during the inter-war period. Draffin was already a notable architect, having won a NZIA Gold Medal (with Grierson and Aimer) for the Auckland War Memorial Museum a few years previously.
In 1937, Draffin similarly designed the adjoining 86 Symonds Street for another notable medical practitioner, physician Dr Alexander Henderson Kirker (1899-1970). This residence was two storeys plus a basement, built of double brick with a series of flat roofs. In the basement was a billiard room and a built-in garage - the latter being an early example of a feature that has since become commonplace. The ground floor was designed to delineate public and private spaces, with the consulting room at the front of the house, with other spaces such as the hall, study and staircase further buffering residential activities (the kitchen and dining) at the back. Three bedrooms and a lounge were on the first floor. The study, with large arched windows, opened onto a terrace.
Not long after his residence was built, Kirker went overseas to serve with the New Zealand Medical Corps in the Second World War (1939-45) and while there married a New Zealand WAAF, Joan Johnston. The couple returned to live in the house for 30 years; in 1950 an extension, also by Draffin, created two new bedrooms on the first floor. In 1959 the interior was altered, the family moved upstairs and the ground floor rented out as rooms for other medical practitioners, reinforcing the continued attractiveness of Symonds Street for medical rooms. Although of a less constrained style than the Gurr house, the Draffin-designed Kirker residence also exhibited neo-Georgian influences evident in small-paned windows framed by louvred shutters, semi-circular windows on the north elevation of the principal storey, and plain brickwork with string courses. A building in the round with elevations quite distinct one from the other in their style, the residence was a notable element in the local streetscape.
In the 1970s, the two residences were sold and combined under the same legal title, and joined together with a brick addition. Later in the 1970s a new floor, with a mansard roof, was added to the top of both 84 Symonds Street and the recent addition, to add more office space. Along with the addition, both underwent internal alterations to convert them into offices. The building has since housed various businesses, including an art gallery and spa. A café was added into the basement area of 86 Symonds Street in 2003.
The building occupies two former lots created as part of an 1885 residential subdivision on the east side of Symonds Street. Lot 8, the northern-most of the two sections, was the entrance to the well-known Cintra property, once the residence of Sir Arthur Myers. To the south, Lot 7 was occupied by a timber dwelling erected for widow Mary Ann Pilkington, said to have been built in 1885.
The house at 84 Symonds Street was built in 1935-6 for trailing-blazing general practitioner Dr Elaine Gurr (1896–1996). In the 1920s Gurr had worked for the Department of Health setting up the country’s first antenatal clinics, and training Plunket nurses and midwives. In 1932 she set up a general practice in Symonds Street, and three years later had this house built. She worked and lived there for 30 years. Gurr later became the first woman to be made an honorary fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. The house was erected as a two-storey brick building, with the front half of the ground floor taken up by waiting and consulting rooms, with a dining room, kitchen and small bedroom behind. Upstairs was a lounge, two more bedrooms and a sunroom; a standalone garage was at the front. The design, by M.K. Draffin was neo-Georgian - an architectural style that was synonymous with upper-middle-class concepts of good taste during the inter-war period. Draffin was already a notable architect, having won a NZIA Gold Medal (with Grierson and Aimer) for the Auckland War Memorial Museum a few years previously.
In 1937, Draffin similarly designed the adjoining 86 Symonds Street for another notable medical practitioner, physician Dr Alexander Henderson Kirker (1899-1970). This residence was two storeys plus a basement, built of double brick with a series of flat roofs. In the basement was a billiard room and a built-in garage - the latter being an early example of a feature that has since become commonplace. The ground floor was designed to delineate public and private spaces, with the consulting room at the front of the house, with other spaces such as the hall, study and staircase further buffering residential activities (the kitchen and dining) at the back. Three bedrooms and a lounge were on the first floor. The study, with large arched windows, opened onto a terrace.
Not long after his residence was built, Kirker went overseas to serve with the New Zealand Medical Corps in the Second World War (1939-45) and while there married a New Zealand WAAF, Joan Johnston. The couple returned to live in the house for 30 years; in 1950 an extension, also by Draffin, created two new bedrooms on the first floor. In 1959 the interior was altered, the family moved upstairs and the ground floor rented out as rooms for other medical practitioners, reinforcing the continued attractiveness of Symonds Street for medical rooms. Although of a less constrained style than the Gurr house, the Draffin-designed Kirker residence also exhibited neo-Georgian influences evident in small-paned windows framed by louvred shutters, semi-circular windows on the north elevation of the principal storey, and plain brickwork with string courses. A building in the round with elevations quite distinct one from the other in their style, the residence was a notable element in the local streetscape.
In the 1970s, the two residences were sold and combined under the same legal title, and joined together with a brick addition. Later in the 1970s a new floor, with a mansard roof, was added to the top of both 84 Symonds Street and the recent addition, to add more office space. Along with the addition, both underwent internal alterations to convert them into offices. The building has since housed various businesses, including an art gallery and spa. A café was added into the basement area of 86 Symonds Street in 2003.
