Funding helps to safeguard significant historic places

Auckland Council is granting $534,241 towards projects that will help protect and conserve significant historic heritage places in Tāmaki Makaurau over the next year. 

Heritage Manager Noel Reardon says 27 repair and restoration works will now be able to go ahead with funding from the council’s Regional Historic Heritage Grants programme for 2025/2026.

“They include two neighbouring historic heritage places in central Auckland, identified in the Auckland Unitary Plan, both in need of restoration work to preserve their remarkable assets,” Mr Reardon says. 

Courtville and Middle Courtville residential buildings stand proudly on Parliament Street, providing grandiose examples of architecture popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Courtville contains the first electric lift in a residential building in Auckland, which has received a boost for much-needed maintenance, says body corporate director Kim Jones.

“We are grateful for the grant, which helps offset some of the costs of maintaining a heritage building like ours. This year, we’re planning a specialist concrete clean for the exterior. This will enhance the building’s street appeal— especially since many Aucklanders and visitors stop to take photos, sometimes for wedding shots and magazines.”

Middle Courtville will have the essential restoration of its west wall completed to protect the fabric of the building into the future.

“Built in 1915, Courtville introduced New Zealand to elegant European-inspired city apartment living. Once home to independent working women and later rescued from demolition, it stands as a rare survivor of Auckland’s early urban ambitions. Courtville’s character and social history still show how thoughtful, human centred design can shape a city,” says Ms Jones.

Built in 1915, Middle Courtville introduced New Zealand to elegant European-inspired city apartment living.

The Regional Historic Heritage Grants programme supports mana whenua, community organisations, and property owners to care for and protect historic heritage, by enabling private and community investment in restoration projects that may otherwise be unmanageable.  

Successful applicants in the latest funding round include three Māori heritage projects. One of these is the stabilisation of an urupā or burial ground near Tapapakanga Regional Park, which is a site of significance to mana whenua. 

The council has allocated funding for regional historic heritage grants for nine years now, with up to $50,000 available for each application.

To be eligible, projects must focus on significant heritage places, sites, buildings, objects and notable trees of special value, as listed in the Auckland Unitary Plan or Auckland Council District Plan Hauraki Gulf Islands Section. 

All projects are expected to be completed in the year ahead, with each recipient asked to report back on how the grant has been used and what has been achieved through the funding.

Read more about how the Regional Historic Heritage Grant programme works and who can apply on the main Auckland Council website. 

Place or project and funding allocated