This image of Auckland's Quayside - the Princes Wharf / Queens Wharf Basin - was published in the Auckland Star in 1980. The caption that ran with the picture is below:
Today Auckland Council, Auckland Transport and the Waterfront Development Agency are working together on an integrated approach to delivering the Mayor's vision - part of the Auckland CBD Waterfront Plan - for Quay Street. Part of that idea is the partial - if not complete - pedestrianisation of Quay Street between Britomart and Princes Wharf.
When the Auckland Harbour Board (which basically was transformed by legislation into Ports of Auckland Ltd in the late 1980's) developed its Quayside plan, it owned much of the relevant land which had been reclaimed. The Auckland Harbour Board idea for Auckland's downtown waterfront was a very positive one. And it is a great pity that it did not act on its plan and actually implement it.
The image above is not especially clear and detailed, but you can make out the paved spaces joining Queen Elizabeth Square across Quay Street with the base of Queens Wharf. You can see that Albert Street was a pedestrian precinct across Quay Street to the waterfront. And you can read in the caption that Auckland Harbour Board's Chairman that the idea was to "bring the port to the people", and that "Princes Wharf would be more open to the public".
You can see the intended design of the AHB Headquarter building in the picture too. It was designed so that there was open access from Quay Street onto Princes Wharf underneath the new HQ. That's not how it is today - as you can see in this posting. AHB got its new HQ, but Auckland didn't get the Quayside waterfront that appeared to go with it.
Hopefully, 33 years later, a third of a century later, the powers that be can join up the dots and deliver on that unmet promise. Time for action.
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