Auckland Star Building, Fort Street
ca.1884 (Burton Brothers) – 2023
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Historical image: Star office, Auckland, circa 1884, Dunedin, by Burton Brothers. Te Papa (O.031509) Burton Bros negative number 2336
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The Auckland Star building's construction was completed in 1884; it was demolished — to be replaced by a car park — in 1989. The historical background below is from a 2014 article on the Greater Auckland website.
Once home to the city’s other paper, the Auckland Star, and a centre of frantic activity as each of the three daily editions of the paper were distributed directly from the ground floor presses on Fort St. The upper floors also supplied most of the drinkers at the Vulcan Lane pubs and of course the De Brett’s Corner Bar just across Shortland St. Well certainly many of the more colourful ones- editorial deadlines for even the late edition closing by 3pm meant the writers were free to pursue their own ‘research’ pretty early in the day.
Weakened by the rise of television Star owner NZ News was acquired by corporate raider Brierley Investments Ltd who demolished the building in 1989. It has been a car park ever since, just like the Royal International site on Elliott St, and of course the ‘parking stump’ on the other side of Shortland St. Amazing that 25 years later the city still bears the scars of the carnage wrought by that regrettable phase.
https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2014/06/09/photo-of-the-day-star-site/
Below, another Burton Brothers picture of the scene, made at a later date (presumably) given its negative number of 2423. Click on image for transition.
Historical image: Fort Street, Auckland, Dunedin, by Burton Brothers. Te Papa (C.010978) Burton Bros negative number 2423
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Below: lastly, a couple of details of the Burton Brothers plates.
Another 1880s Burton Brothers picture showing the Star building is on this site here, and a 1915 Henry Winkelmann photograph showing it is here.
The buiding extended from Fort Street (as seen here) to Shortland Street, (where it had a narrower frontage). A photograph from around 1910 showing its Shortland Street frontage is here.
