Tag: Gordon Wilson Flats

  • Bill McKay ~ talking about the Gordon Wilson Flats (RNZ)

    On the 23rd of June (2025) Bill McKay, urban issues correspondent for RNZ, discussed “the government’s decision to introduce a bill to demolish Wellington’s Gordon Wilson Flats.” Bill suggests it is a ‘new low’ that the government worked on an RMA amendment to demolish this single building. the greenest building is the one that is…

  • Press Release : Re(NEW) the Gordon Wilson Flats

    Faster, greener, more affordable housing Victoria University – Te Herenga Waka (VUW) is urged to reuse the structure ofWellington’s controversial Gordon Wilson Flats (GWF) to deliver modern housing and save carbon, time, waste-to-landfill and impact on the city. The Architectural Centre has put forward an alternative plan to VUW that would replace the building’s façade…

  • Position Statement: The Architectural Centre

    Photo above: Mr and Mrs W. Shaw and son Nicholas, first tenants in the Gordon Wilson state flats on The Terrace, Wellington. Evening post (Newspaper. 1865-2002) :Photographic negatives and prints of the Evening Post newspaper. Ref: EP/1959/1911-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23503306 Decision from the Minister for Housing, Chris Bishop: The Architectural Centre’s Position…

  • “Gordon Wilson Memorial Apartments”

    What is in a name? You may be wondering why we are calling are calling them this – rather than the Gordon Wilson Flats. Well, here you can see Minister of Housing Mr Fox (on the right looking at the camera), standing in front of the still incomplete building in 1959. This small article, published…

  • Recent Media Attention

    The open letter to Hon Chris Bishop has stimulated a bit of a response from the media. You can see the activity here: Scoop posted the letter: https://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=159785 The Post: https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350249603/last-ditch-bid-save-derelict-eyesore NZ Herald: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/wellingtons-gordon-wilson-flats-could-be-demolished-for-victoria-university-accommodation/PMPWHZJ26NDPBGPVQQPL6LPGEY/ Eye of the Fish: https://eyeofthefish.org/last-ditch-bid-to-save-fantastic-modernist-building/ TVNZ+: 1News at Six – Saturday 20 Apr (available till 27 Apr) ThreeNow: NewsHub 6pm – Saturday 20 Apr (available till 22 Apr)

  • Adapted reuse scheme for Gordon Wilson Memorial Apartments

    Refer below to open letter authored by The Architectural Centre addressed to Minister for Housing. We provide a robust, contemporary rationale for the retention and refurbishment of 320 The Terrace, also known as the Gordon Wilson Memorial Apartments (GWMA): Tēnā koe Hon. Chris Bishop, An open letter – 320 The Terrace (Gordon Wilson Memorial Apartments)…

  • Demolition by ignorance?

    On Saturday morning (10 September 2016) on The Nation, the Social Housing Minister, Paula Bennett, claimed that she was doing everything “humanly possible”

  • Wellington Mayoral Candidates Respond

    ARCHITECTURAL CENTRE: 2016 questions for Wellington mayoral candidates.

  • My favourite modernist building … state houses

    The state houses of the First Labour Government (1935-1949) are justly famous