The factory

The Vicino building was originally a car factory belonging to the New Zealand Automobile Company. Stage 1 of the Vicino development (the section that fronts onto Taranaki St, with the relatively ornate facade) housed the offices. Stage 2, where our apartment is being built, is a large, peaked-roof structure where the cars were assembled and serviced.

In the 1920's, the section of Te Aro between Wakefield St and Courtenay Pl was like a little piece of Detroit in downtown Wellington. There was the Ford factory in Courtenay Place; the Manthell Motors building on the corner of Wakefield and Taranaki Streets; and, notably, Todd Motors on Wakefield Street.

In April 1924, the N.Z. Automobile Co. sought consent to build on the Taranaki St site (as shown by this application form). There is photographic evidence that the facade was under construction in 1925, so it seems likely that the factory was complete and working by about 1926.

This is the oldest picture of the complete building that I could find (from The Evening Post, circa 1928). Stage 2 is very prominent, with the large "BUICK" sign painted across the Halleys Lane side. Stage 1 is in front, with the Police Station and Manthell Motors building to the north, leading on to Taranaki Wharf in the distance. In the right foreground is the old Clarendon hotel, now home to the (in)famous Molly Malone's.

The plans

This image is taken from the original blueprints that accompanied the 1924 building consent application form. It shows an elevation from the southern (Halley's Lane) end.

The Taranaki St offices were built pretty much as planned, but the factory itself underwent some design changes before the building was complete. The southern wall was intended to have three panels with two windows each, but was built with four panels, each of which had one narrow window. The roofline is also different: it was built higher, and it has a gable rather than sloping backwards from the wall.