The Kenneth Myers Centre is a landmark building in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...
, New Zealand. Originally known as the 1YA Building and then the Television New Zealand building, the building was purchased by the
University of Auckland
, mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work
, established = 1883; years ago
, endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021)
, budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021)
, chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant
, vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...
and modified in 2000–01. Located in
Shortland Street
''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital, first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992. It is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously ...
in the
Auckland CBD
The Auckland Central Business District (CBD), or Auckland city centre, is the geographical and economic heart of the Auckland metropolitan area. It is the area in which Auckland was established in 1840, by William Hobson. It is New Zealand's l ...
, the "strikingly original structure" built in 1934 is registered by
Heritage New Zealand
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...
as a Category I building.
The
Gus Fisher Gallery
Gus Fisher Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located in the Kenneth Myers Centre, a historic building restored in 2000 with the help of the gallery's patron, Gus Fisher (1920–2010). The gallery exhibits a re ...
is located in the building.
Use for radio
The building was originally built in 1934 as a new home for 1YA, one of Auckland’s first two licensed radio stations in 1923 (alongside 1YB), making it the first purpose-built public radio building in New Zealand. The 1YA studios were commissioned by the conservative
24th New Zealand Parliament, led by the
United Party, and designed by Norman Wade and Alva Bartley (Wade & Bartley), architects of De Bretts (also in Shortland Street) and the New Zealand Power Board building (
Queen Street) – it was officially opened on 23 January 1935 by Postmaster General
Adam Hamilton
Adam Hamilton (20 August 1880 – 29 April 1952) was a New Zealand politician. He was the first non-interim Leader of the National Party during its early years in Opposition.
Early life
Hamilton was born in Forest Hill, near Winton, South ...
. It would go on to play an important role in the social programme of the
first Labour government, formed from the
November 1935 election and led by
Michael Joseph Savage
Michael Joseph Savage (23 March 1872 – 27 March 1940) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of New Zealand, heading the First Labour Government from 1935 until his death in 1940.
Savage was born in the Colon ...
who was a strong advocate for public broadcasting. Renowned recording engineer and producer, Wahanui Wynyard, did some of his earliest work in the 1YA studios, including sessions with The Bluestars, from which a single was released in the UK by Decca.
Architecture
Described as
neo-Romanesque
Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...
in style, and deceptively large, the structure presents a single storey façade to Shortland Street, but extends for another three levels down the hill to Fort Street at the back. Requirements of early radio broadcasting technology dictated that the building be solid and soundproof. Thick double brick walls block out noise, and copper framed arched 'windows' reveal a second layer of brick rather than a view of the interior.
Bricks were supplied by Amalgamated Brick Brick & Pipe Company Ltd., the parent company for
Crown Lynn
Crown Lynn was a New Zealand ceramics manufacturer that operated under various names between 1854 and 1989.
Early history
The pottery's origins started with an 1854 land purchase at Hobsonville, near Auckland, by Rice Owen Clark. He had arriv ...
Potteries, and designed to graduate from red to yellow in eight different bands of colour progressing up the face of the building – the brickwork plans are held by the University of Auckland's architecture archive and some of these were exhibited in 2011 for the
Gus Fisher Gallery
Gus Fisher Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located in the Kenneth Myers Centre, a historic building restored in 2000 with the help of the gallery's patron, Gus Fisher (1920–2010). The gallery exhibits a re ...
exhibition ''Crown Lynn: Pottery for the People''.
Use for television and music
The building was converted into a television studio, AKTV2, and was the site of the first official broadcast of
television in New Zealand
Television in New Zealand was introduced in 1960 as a state-run service. The broadcasting sector was deregulated in 1989, when the Government allowed competition to the state-owned Television New Zealand (TVNZ). There are currently three forms o ...
on 1 June 1960. It remained the centre of the nation's television broadcasting from Auckland until 1990 when
Television New Zealand
, type = Crown entity
, industry = Broadcast television
, num_locations = New Zealand
, location = Auckland, New Zealand
, area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the Solo ...
(TVNZ) relocated to its present
Miles Warren
The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...
-designed base on
Hobson Street __NOTOC__
Hobson may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Hobson (surname)
* Hobson R. Reynolds (1898–1991), American politician and judge
Places New Zealand
* Hobson County, New Zealand, a former local authority
* Mount Hobson (Au ...
. Sentimental regard for the old building, commonly known as the Shortland Street Studios, lives on in the titling of a certain long running hospital soap, ''
Shortland Street
''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital, first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992. It is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously ...
'',
which was originally planned to be filmed in the building.
In the 1990s the building, with its purpose-built studio environs, became a natural base for a range of musicians and producers, including
Dave Dobbyn
Sir David Joseph Dobbyn (born 3 January 1957) is a New Zealand musician, singer–songwriter and record producer. In his early career he was a member of the rock group Th' Dudes and was the main creative force in pop band DD Smash. Since then ...
, The Submariner and
York Street Studio
York Street Recording Studio was a Recording Studio based in Auckland, New Zealand. Founded and built by producer and engineer Martin Williams, producer Malcolm Welsford and Jaz Coleman it quickly became New Zealand's leading music recordin ...
. The many recordings made in this period include albums from
The Mutton Birds
The Mutton Birds were a New Zealand rock music group formed in Auckland in 1991 by Ross Burge, David Long and Don McGlashan, with Alan Gregg joining a year later. Four of their albums reached the top 10 on the New Zealand Albums Char ...
,
Che Fu
Che Kuo Eruera Ness (born 1974), better known by his stage name Che Fu, is a New Zealand hip hop, R&B and reggae artist, songwriter and producer. A founding member of the band Supergroove, as a solo artist he has gone on to sell thousands of ...
and
Pitch Black. Parts of the Kenneth Myers Centre still function as recording and rehearsal studios and are regularly used by musicians from the University of Auckland's School of Music.
Use as a gallery
Purchased by the University from TVNZ in 2000, the building was extensively and authentically restored and renovated. The principal benefactor was
Douglas Myers and the building got named in honour of his father, Kenneth Myers.
["Our Donors". ''Ingenio''. Spring (2008). 10. ISSN 1176-211X] Downstairs are dance studios, music practice rooms, video edit suites and other facilities for teaching and studying the creative and performing arts, while the upstairs areas were refurbished with the help of art lover and fashion designer
Gus Fisher's generosity to become the University of Auckland's art gallery. While most of the interior has always been very plain, the main foyer features a coloured glass dome lit from above, encircled by elaborately decorated plaster, originally painted in seven colours. This has been painted white to accentuate the pink, green and tobacco coloured glass in the dome. The original bronze 1YA entrance lamps at the building's entrance were removed when the building was refitted for television in 1959
and ended up at a private home in Siota Cres, Kohimarama.
To complete a condition of a city council resource consent (issued in 2000 with a 2005 deadline) that allowed the University to restore the building, at the prompting of artist
Billy Apple
Billy Apple (born Barrie Bates; 31 December 19356 September 2021) was a New Zealand/USA artist, whose work is associated with the British and New York schools of pop art in the 1960s and NY's Conceptual Art movement in the 1970s. He worked alo ...
, a new set of lamps were produced and installed on 23 October 2009.
References
{{University of Auckland
NZHPT Category I listings in the Auckland Region
Recording studios in Auckland, New Zealand
Domes
1935 in radio
1930s architecture in New Zealand
Buildings and structures of the University of Auckland
Art museums and galleries in Auckland
Auckland CBD