The former Racing Conference Building

• 1960 - 1960
• Construction of business premises Owner: Racing Conference. Builder: Williams Construction Co. Application value: £87,300 (00058:124:C5977)
• 1962 - 1962
• Three shops, ground floor. Owner: AL Cox. Builder: Parsons & Capper Ltd. Application value: £1949 (00058:227:C10265)
• 1974 - 1974
• additions - penthouse (1 storey). Owner: NZ Racing Conference. Builder: AV Swanson & Sons Ltd. Application value: $40200. Floor area: 1474 square feet (00058:933:C41107)
• 1978 - 1978
• Partitions, level 1 - Owner: NZ Racing Conference. Builder: Field & Hall Ltd. Application value: $12,200. (00058:1156:C49835)
• 1978 - 1978
• Partitions 4th & 5th floors. Owner: NZ Racing Conference. Builder: Field & Hall Ltd. Application value: $8200. Floor area: 360 square feet (00058:1165:C50183)
• 1990 - 1990
• Restaurant fitout - Owner: Michael Pitt. Builder: McLaren Builders. Application value: $10,650. Note: The Lido Cafe. (00059:423:E21317)
• 1990 - 1990
• Restaurant fitout - Owner: Michael Pitt. Builder: McLaren Builders. Application value: $10,650. Note: The Lido Cafe. (00059:423:E21317)
• 1991 - 1991
• Additions and alterations, level 5 - Owner: Mibar Enterprises. Builder: Stevens Construction.Application value: $8,000. (00059:459:E22437)
• 1995 - 1995
• Alteration to drains (00061:73:12179)
• 2004 - 2004
• office fit-out, level 4 - Owner: Mibar Enterprises Ltd. Applicant: Mibar Enterprises Ltd. Application value: $10,000. (00078:1479:113055)

Not assessed

Not assessed

The Racing Club Building is a six storey reinforced concrete structure. Finishing materials include vitreous ceramic floor and wall tiles, steel-framed windows and suspended acoustic ceilings. Although in the International Style the building façade is not a curtain wall; the frame is expressed on both street elevations with bands of windows and spandrel panels giving a horizontal emphasis, particularly to the long Victoria Street façade. These elements run around the curved nose of the building, where each floor has an inset balcony while the handrails to the balconies each sport a horseshoe motif. The thin concrete roof overhangs the top floor, emphasising the continuity of form around the corner.

The curve of the nose of the building finds a counterpoint in the verandah roof which is a playful series of curves utilising the structural strength of concrete in thin folded form. The verandah was startling in its day, and is still one of its distinguishing features.

The Victoria / Wakefield Street junction is one of Wellington’s many wedge-shaped corners. Although not unduly emphasised (by, for example, a dome as on the Public Trust Building), the curve of the horizontal elements on the façade of the Racing Conference Building clearly delineates the corner. Adjacent buildings are low rise so the building plays a landmark role on the corner.

Although retail spaces at ground floor level have been altered, exterior form and materials from the verandah level up, remain as originally designed and built. Upper floors are in office use and the building has amenity value for the mix of uses that it houses.

Reinforced concrete

Finishing materials include vitreous ceramic floor and wall tiles, steel-framed windows and suspended acoustic ceilings.

Concrete roof

Concrete verandah

The former Racing Conference Building occupies a prominent corner site at the intersection between Victoria and Wakefield Streets. Most of the buildings to the east along Wakefield Street are part of the Cuba Street Heritage Area, a nationally significant collection of heritage buildings. The Heritage Area ends at the unprepossessing West Plaza Hotel, a modern agglomeration of podium, towers and balconies, and its neighbour the similarly bland two storey curtain wall office / retail building that currently (2012) houses Gubb’s Shoes. The former Racing Conference Building serves to punctuate the western end of Wakefield Street and delineate the key corner of Wakefield and Victoria Streets. To the south along Victoria Street is a row of two storey Victorian and Edwardian shops that extend to Manners Street.

• Architectural

  Does the item have architectural or artistic value for characteristics that may include its design, style, era, form, scale, materials, colour, texture, patina of age, quality of space, craftsmanship, smells, and sounds?

  The building is an unusual Expressive Modernist building constructed with a fine palette of high quality finishing materials including stainless steel, bronze sheathing, and vitreous ceramic tiles. The building with its distinctive wave form canopy, curved glass windows, and quirky decorative elements is atypical of 1950s Modernist design but is one of the most distinctive and well known Wellington buildings of that era.

• Group

  Is the item part of a group of buildings, structures, or sites that taken together have coherence because of their age, history, style, scale, materials, or use?

  The building is constructed to a similar scale to the nearby street-wall of Victorian/Edwardian buildings along Wakefield Street.

• Townscape

  Does the item have townscape value for the part it plays in defining a space or street; providing visual interest; its role as a landmark; or the contribution it makes to the character and sense of place of Wellington?

  The building has townscape and landmark value for its prominence on an inner-city, wedge-shaped site, clearly defining a busy intersection. Its unusual wave form verandah and quirky decorative elements including the horseshoe baluster motifs enliven the building and add much to the townscape.

• Association

  Is the item associated with an important person, group, or organisation?

  The building has historic value as the purpose-built head office of the New Zealand Racing Conference, a use it maintained for over 20 years. The building has historic value for its association with Structon Group Architects, one of Wellington’s largest and well known architectural firms of the post-war period

• Archaeological

  Does the item have archaeological value for its ability to provide scientific information about past human activity?

  Central City NZAA R27/270, Pre 1900 reclaimed land. Note: An old jetty was uncovered during construction, and there is a potential risk of other archaeological remains on site

• Technological

  Does the item have technological value for its innovative or important construction methods or use of materials?

  The building has technical interest for its detailing and materials, particularly for the tiling that remains intact on the exterior of the building and the unusual verandah.

• Sentiment/Connection

  Is the item a focus of community sentiment and connection?

  The building has social value for the longstanding Lido café, one of the city’s most successful cafes and a popular meeting place.

• Authentic

  Does the item have authenticity or integrity because it retains significant fabric from the time of its construction or from later periods when important additions or modifications were carried out?

  The building exterior remains substantially as originally designed and built, and retains much of the original building fabric.

Not assessed

• Kernohan, D & Kellaway, T. 1994. Wellington’s Old Buildings.
• McLintock A.H. ed. 1966, Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, Government Printer
• NZIA Wellington Branch Newsletter April 2012. Source: Christine McCarthy, 2003 “Partial architectures: post World War II New Zealand government housing”
• SO23656 “Historical plan of reclamations in the Port of Wellington” Wellington Harbour Board map, 1936
• 'Wellington cafe culture ', (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 30-Aug-2012
• WCC Archives, Permit C5977
• WCC Heritage Inventory 2001 ref VICT2
• Wellington Architecture Centre website accessed October 2012

• Inventory Report

Not available