HISTORY SEMINAR SERIES 2023

All Welcome

New Zealand’s housing crisis receives much media attention, from inadequate supply to over-crowding, poor conditions, deteriorating materials, unaffordability, and falling rates of home ownership. Much of the commentary calls for more houses, and for more land to be opened up for more houses. The house is still touted as “the New Zealand dream”. Some commentators see apartments as anathema to this, however New Zealand has been building apartments for over 100 years.

This one-hour talk draws from a research project that documents and analyses New Zealand’s history of apartment building. The aim is to demonstrate that apartments are part of our housing culture, and that the country needs to be talking not about more houses, but about more housing. The talk identifies exemplars from across the decades, and teases out key changes over time, in apartment design, in ownership structures, and in the target demographics.

Julia Gatley is an Associate Professor of Architecture in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland, researching and teaching in architectural history and heritage conservation.

More information: Joe Zizek  j.zizek@auckland.ac.nz

Image: Sinclair O’Connor, Middle Courtville, Auckland, 1914-1915