Source: Radio New Zealand
The former Fitzroy Hotel on Auckland’s Wakefield Street is considered the oldest brick building in the city centre. RNZ / Marika Khabazi
The trial of the owner of one of Auckland’s oldest buildings has begun, five and a half years after an engineer first inspected cracks in its façade.
Auckland Council is prosecuting Terry Huang and his company The Fitzroy Hotel Auckland Limited – which owns the Category A listed heritage building at 75-77 Wakefield Street in central Auckland – for not complying with a danger notice.
Built around 1855, the building is considered the city’s oldest brick building.
Now retired, structural engineer Geoff Radley told the Auckland District Court on Tuesday that he first inspected the building in December 2020, as an employee of Tonkin and Taylor, after the council became concerned about cracks in its walls.
The former Fitzroy Hotel in Wakefield Street, Auckland from 1909. E Gilling, Auckland Weekly News
After that first inspection, Radley said he concluded that the building was moving and there was a possibility that subsidence was occurring.
“My main concern was that it was unreinforced masonry, and once masonry cracks it can become quite unsafe.”
Radley said he was not concerned at that point that the building would collapse, but recommended the owner provide his own engineering report, and that monitors be installed.
When he next inspected the building in September 2022, the cracks were bigger.
“It did appear that the cracks were live as they had widened, so I requested council, at seven locations…. should be installing steel plates bolted through the wall to arrest any further movement.”
The former Fitzroy Hotel on the corner of Wakefield and Lyndock streets in Auckland CBD in July 2024 Google Maps
He also recommended the council place a dangerous building notice on the building.
“It was tipped into this category because of the close proximity of the walls to the public footpaths outside on Lyndock and Wakefield (Streets) where there’s the potential for pieces of masonry to fall onto the ground, potentially injuring people, or killing people.”
Radley carried out a further inspection in December 2022, and determined the dangerous building notice should remain in place.
The trial of the owner of one of Auckland’s oldest buildings began on Tuesday, five and a half years after an engineer first inspected cracks in its façade. RNZ / Marika Khabazi
In August 2023, when no remedial work had been carried out, he again inspected the building, and in the report to council “strongly recommend that a CE (chief executive) warrant to avert immediate danger be considered urgently by council as the DBN (dangerous building notice) previously issued to the building owner has apparently not resulted in any remedial work to prevent potential collapse”.
Such a warrant is normally only invoked when there is concern that no repair work or propping has been carried out, he said.
Auckland Council field operations manager for compliance David Pawson told the court that the demolition of a Category A heritage building was not something to be taken lightly.
“Obviously with the engineering advice being so strongly worded we did consider our options in front of us. The building is a category A heritage listed building which is the most significant and highly protected building we have here in Auckland, and so we had a duty to avoid substantial demolition of the building if it could possibly be avoided.”
Huang is representing himself in the judge-alone trial, which continues on Wednesday.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/19/owner-of-one-of-aucklands-oldest-buildings-goes-on-trial/