Harcourts Building Goes Another Round

The long-running case of Harcourts building on Lambton Quay continues. The owner’s application to demolish this Category One 1928 office building was turned down by independent commissioners who dealt with the original application. This decision was appealed to the Environment Court, and that court upheld the commissioners’ decision and disallowed the appeal.

We were very encouraged by the Court’s clear decision which agreed with the reasoning in the commissioners’ decision. However, this is not the end of the matter.

The owners have now appealed to the High Court to have the Environment Court’s decision overturned. This latest appeal is on points of law only. As in the earlier appeal, Historic Places Wellington is unable to take part in this case. However, Historic Places Trust and the Wellington City Council will be opposing the appeal. The hearing is to take place sometime in the first half of 2014.

This article appeared in the Historic Places Wellington Newsletter 6.-
Historic Places Wellington Newsletter Number 6