In 1947, Mt Roskill Road Board became Mt Roskill Borough Council. It was made-up of a mayor and eight (later 10) councillors. The town clerk was responsible for the council’s affairs and the day-to-day administration and coordination of the council's five departments: engineering, town planning, inspectorate, treasury and secretarial.
In September 1956, Mayor Keith Hay laid the foundation stone for a new municipal building designed by Stephen G. Wright. The building housed the Mt Roskill Council chambers, a mayoral office and administrative departments.
The building was officially opened by the Minister of Internal Affairs on 15 June 1957 and the iconic heritage image is from the opening. Since then, the building was used for civic business and for a time by Puketāpapa Local Board as its offices until early the 2010s, when black mould was discovered in sections of the building and it was evacuated.
In 2016, after a campaign led by Puketāpapa Local Board, the Mt Roskill (Puketāpapa) Historical Society and the local community, Auckland Council agreed to fund a restoration project, which involved removing the affected extensions including the 1988 panels enclosing the original deck space, bringing the chambers back to public use once again.
Work began in late 2016 to remove the problematic 1990 addition and install a new lift, new roof, new air-conditioning system and new toilets, as well as a structural upgrade and internal refurbishment.
And now, this is the office of the Puketāpapa Local Board. Recently, the restored heritage building was opened to the public to celebrate its long ties to the land on which it stands.
