Imagine it’s 2030. The St James Theatre has opened its doors again.
You’ve just seen Six60 play on the newly restored stage inside the amphitheatre, or heard Sol3Mio soar at great heights through the harmonies of the Pearl Fishers opera duet.
And you step out into the street.
There are plants and trees lining both sides of Queen Street - mature and lush-green. Footpaths are generously wide and the Waihorotiu path has become a gentle lane of riders who give priority to pedestrians. Shoppers have right of way.
You’re thinking about which travel option you’ll choose to get home. And there are many.
Render of Te Hā Noa, Victoria Street – under construction.
Will you stroll to your apartment a short distance away? Will you cross Queen Street to the Wellesley Street bus interchange and catch a bus – now smoothly funnelling people to all parts of the region?
Will you catch a train at Te Waihorotiu Station? The City Rail Link – Auckland’s new underground train system - has been operating for a few years and is already a hit with Aucklanders of all ages.
Will you grab an e-scooter and ride the Waihorotiu path to catch a ferry at the bottom of town, or hop on your bike parked on a rack outside the theatre and ride the cycleway now lining Te Hā Noa, Victoria Street? You’ll see beautiful artwork, mature trees on either side of the upgraded street and spacious streetside spaces for socialising.
Or will you meet friends after the show at one of the area’s vibrant hospitality lanes bustling with people, and drive home later? Or will a taxi meet you at a pick-up zone nearby, making the theatre experience accessible especially for the disabled and elderly.
If the St James Theatre had eyes, it would have witnessed a metamorphosis. It would have seen a burgeoning population and a transforming city centre since it first opened in 1928.
Back then, the theatre would have seen trams pulling up outside, an asphalted roadway, women daring to lift their hemlines, department stores leading a new retail trend, and the splendour of the Civic Theatre taking shape across the street, among many other stitches of an everchanging urban tapestry.
When the much-adored St James Theatre opens again, it will open to a city centre re-designed and responsive to changing times, a century after the theatre’s 1928 opening. There will be pedestrian-prioritised spaces, trees, rain gardens, public art, more visibility of te ao Māori narratives, and more transport options.
More information on the history of the St James Theatre is available via PDF [1.16 MB].
Theatregoers might even hear the singing of waiata in the underpass at nearby Myers Park, something they might not have been able to imagine a century ago. Read about Waimahara here and explore six other majestic icons in the central city here.
Pictures tell the story of our city centre’s transformation here.
