Welcome to Auckland’s original ‘Municipal Destructor’. Everyone, like me, know it as Victoria Park Market – a super popular open air market through the 80's to 2000's – a great place to buy your crystals and tie-dies etc! I've always known that it was originally the city rubbish dump – when the city was waaaay smaller). There is more to the story, of course. It was originally created in reaction to a bubonic plague scare in Sydney. For sanitary reasons it was built to burn Auckland’s rubbish and waste while using the heat generated to provide electricity to power the city. Sounds pretty clever eh, and I guess we were plague free. However, we must have been breathing some seriously toxic smoke fumes! That 38 metre tall chimney must have helped a little but don't forget all the horse manure and night carts, they were definitely smellier times. The municipal destructor is now a gentrified place that's home to restaurants and businesses, like the superb Milenta restau...
I'm a fan of the art deco Landmark House at 187 Queen street. Strong vertical lines accentuate the art deco tower, giving it the feeling of some 30's Manhattan skyscraper.
It must have looked pretty impressive above the surrounding Auckland skyline on completion in 1930.
Today it's completely dominated by much larger towers, approach it from Durham Lane though, and they're completely masked from view, the alley accentuates the vertical lines of the tower and for a moment you feel lost in time.
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