The Sky Tower dominates Auckland's skyline, and tourist guides. The slick, futuristic tower, completed in 1997, stands at 328 meters high, boasts eighty kilometer panoramic views, and for those more adventurist, an opportunity to bungy jump off the side.
To the west of the Sky Tower and just a ten minute walk away, stands another iconic Auckland landmark. A considerably older, orange and brown brick, thirty-eight meter high chimney. What the chimney and its surrounding brick buildings does have, that the Sky Tower doesn't, is historical significance. Protected by the Historic Trust, this area known as Victoria Park Market, has become an important part of Auckland's development from a colonial settlement to a modern city. Emerging from humble beginnings, Victoria Park Market was originally the city's first rubbish depot.
The Development Of The Destructor Rubbish Depot
By 1900, sixty years after the first European settlers had arrived, Auckland had become New Zealand's largest and fastest growing city. However as Auckland grew, so too, did it's rubbish. Following fears of bubonic plague, exacerbated by a plague outbreak in Sydney Australia, the City Council began work in 1904 on (what sounds, in retrospect like the name for a comic book hero) The Destructor; Auckland's first rubbish depot, situated in the then, working class suburb of Freemans Bay.
The Destructor facilities included a tipping platform, ovens, furnaces and the aforementioned chimney. The purpose of the Destructor was to incinerate the city's refuse and establish organized rubbish collections and thereby stamp out the need for Aucklanders to dump their rubbish on the streets. From its completion, the facilities were kept busy churning through sixty tons of refuse a day.
The Destructor Provides Auckland's First Electrical Supply
In 1907 -1908, a power generator was added to the facilities, cannily utilizing the heat generated by the Destructor, providing the first supply of electricity to Auckland. A joint generator had been proposed in 1902, but the power generator's efficiency was short lived. Unable to keep up with the growing city's electrical demands, the generator was shut down in 1913.
Despite the closure of the generator, stabling and council depot buildings were added to the site, over a four year period, beginning in 1914. The double storey stabling provided housing for the ninety-four horses, used to pull the refuse wagons. The buildings on the east side of the depot were used for the wagons and storage; and on the west, council administration offices were situated.
Understandably by 1952 the use of horse drawn refuse wagons had long become obsolete and the stable section was closed. In the following years the Destructor and the council offices fell into decline and in 1972 the Destructor building and chimney ceased operations.
The Establishment of Victoria Park Market
The Destructor was scheduled for demolition, but thanks to a public campaign to save the complex, the buildings were restored and transformed into a retail and tourist destination in 1983 and the Destructor was renamed, the more tourist friendly sounding Victoria Park Market. (In reference to Victoria Park situated, on the northern side of the complex.)
Victoria Park Market, like its earlier incarnation has since, fallen into disrepair. In 2010 the site was sold to a syndication of buyers, with plans to, once again, restore and redevelop the area, into an upmarket restaurant, nightclub and retail complex. Work has begun, and the iconic chimney now stands covered in scaffolding and the surrounding buildings await their face lift.
Sources
Renewal Closer For Victoria Park Market; Life & Style - NZ Herald
www.nzheald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/a.cfm?c_id=6
Summary-registersearchresults:NZ historic Places
www.historic.org.nz/The Register
Sarah-Jane Rowland - I live in Auckland, New Zealand and for the last eight years I have written about fashion - Web site articles and promotional and press ...
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