It is almost 35 years to the week since His Majesty’s Theatre was reduced to rubble. The 1902 theatre and arcade were demolished despite the efforts of protesters, who included some Civic Trust Auckland members, one being our patron, Hamish Keith. At one protest, 29 people were arrested, among them writer Maurice Shadbolt and musician Jools Topp.

Auckland Council, headed at the time by Cath Tizard, issued a permit for the building’s demolition during the Christmas period.

The current mayor has described His Majesty’s as “a dreadful old building.”

Read this article in Stuff, which has more comments by Mayor Brown and includes several photos of the time.

CTA president Allan Matson is quoted in the article as saying, “The heritage classification of His Majesty’s was downgraded which helped clear the path to destruction of what was in fact a magnificent civic space, and it’s been pretty much like that in Auckland ever since.”