Dixon Street Flats is a historic building in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, New Zealand designed by the Housing Division of the Ministry of Works.

History

The Dixon Street Flats in central Wellington were completed in 1944 as part of the first Labour Government's

state housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

program. They were designed by the chief architect of the Department of Housing Construction Gordon Wilson. The Austrian-born architect

Ernst Plischke Ernst Anton Plischke (June 26, 1903 – 23 May, 1992) was an Austrian-New Zealand modernist architect, town planner and furniture designer whose work is well known throughout Europe and New Zealand. Early years Plischke was born in the town ...

was employed by the Department of Housing Construction at the time of the design and is popularly thought to have had considerable influence over the Dixon Street design, even though there is no documentary evidence to support this. The building was officially opened on 4 September 1943, six months before it was completed, because a general election was coming up and the flats were good publicity for the Labour Party's election campaign. The flats were originally intended to house single women and retired couples, but by 1943 many soldiers were returning from war service and getting married, so it was decided to give them preference. Ten stories high, the building contained 115 one-bedroom flats plus a two-bedroom caretaker's flat. At the official opening the Minister of Works commented on features that were notable at the time: provision of privacy, sunlight and soundproofing. The flats were also to be wired up for radio reception, with an aerial connection in each home. The building featured a mural by Australian artist Nancy Bolton. The building was awarded the

NZIA gold medal The New Zealand Institute of Architects Gold Medal is an award presented annually by the Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) to a New Zealand architect. History From 1927 until 1977 a gold, silver or bronze prize wa ...

in 1947. It is considered to be the archetype of Modernist apartment blocks in New Zealand. The building was the first major high-rise building and first major apartment block to be completed in Wellington after the Second World War. In 1982 the Housing Corporation undertook a $4 million renovation of the building, improving kitchens and bathrooms and building a laundry and social area on the roof. The building was classified in 1997 as a "Category 1" ("places of special or outstanding historical or cultural heritage significance or value") historic place by

Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of Archaeology of New Zealand, ancest ...

. In 2016, after an elderly resident died and was not found for two weeks, Housing New Zealand, in conjunction with the Presbyterian church in Wellington, started providing a weekly drop-in for cups of tea to help build a community. Security cameras were installed and a security guard was stationed at the flats at all times to deal with antisocial behaviour by some residents and their visitors. Another resident lay dead and undiscovered for weeks in 2021. In 2022 Kāinga Ora (successor to Housing New Zealand) produced a report on the flats which stated that the building was "at the end of its economic life". Due to its heritage listing it would be difficult to get permission to demolish the building, so Kāinga Ora's preferred plan was to renovate, which would mean moving all the residents out temporarily. Many of the tenants were "middle-aged, single, older, formerly homeless individuals". By 2024, the flats were boarded up until further notice and the residents relocated, following concerns over the building's quake-prone status and Kāinga Ora's financial health.

References

External links

{{commons category-inline, Dixon Street Flats Buildings and structures in Wellington City Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in the Wellington Region Apartment buildings in New Zealand Government buildings in New Zealand 1940s architecture in New Zealand