Heritage restoration begins by “Bypass” Route

The 128 collective, a group of Wellington people with a commitment to Te Aro, have come together start restoring the heritage building at 128 Abel Smith Street, Te Aro. The first working bee was held on Saturday.

The house is next to Transit’s “bypass” designation, but not included in it. It is owned by the Lebanese Society and is at least 104 years old, possibly even older. This means it is both a heritage building and an archaeological site under the Historic Places Act.

The building is currently empty and has been subjected to a lot of vandalism and theft of heritage fabric, and the 128 collective wants to save it before something worse happens.

The Lebanese Society have allowed the collective to have a community working bee at the house this Saturday. Everyone is welcome to come to the working bee. A skip will be provided and people are encouraged to bring along their own cleaning gear and anything they think may be useful for the working bee to go well.

The 128 Collective is looking forward to working constructively with the Lebanese Society to secure the buildings future as living heritage.

Transit New Zealand has previously declined offers from the community to help restore the heritage buildings that it owns in the bypass area. The 128 Collective hopes that Transit will be encouraged to reconsider by the work being done on 128 Abel Smith St.

The collective also hopes it can demonstrate to Wellingtonians the economic and community value of restoring heritage on site in the Te Aro area.

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