10/5/2016 1 Comment More on DemolitionWalking past the corner of Majoribanks (pronounced Marge-banks, if you're a local) and Roxburgh St, Mount Victoria, Wellington, I'm exposed twice daily to the progressing demolition of this century-old commercial building. It fills me with sadness.
It's not just this one site. Older buildings in general are integral to the texture of a city - the sense of being and belonging in it. We don't have much built history in New Zealand and we do not cherish and preserve what we have. I know it probably doesn't make short-term business sense for the new owner of such a property to do something really cool with it; but the site's proximity to Wellington's leisure quarter suggested uses other than yet one more characterless apartment block - something you just slam together for short-term profit. Too late now. Anyway, as some compensation, the CD of 'The Hawk is Howling' (by post-rock band Mogwai) turned up in the post today. Played through large speakers at a volume that is aurally and physically overwhelming, and accompanied by sufficient red wine, it serves as an uncompromising soundtrack to dissolve away the sense of loss (or almost whatever else you want it to, for that matter). (Here's the methadone version, for your computer. But it's far better on vinyl or CD.) And here are some more photos of said demolition-in-progress, from last week (DSLR) and this evening (cellphone cam).
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