Wikimapia is a multilingual open-content collaborative map, where anyone can create place tags and share their knowledge.

FitzRoy Hotel

New Zealand / Auckland /

19th century pub building {named after Governor FitzRoy}.
Situated on the corner of Wakefield and Lyndock Streets, Ashington House (the former FitzRoy Hotel) was constructed in 1854-55 and is one of the earliest surviving examples of brick architecture in New Zealand. The building was owned, and potentially designed and built by William Parker, one of Auckland's earliest brickmakers.

Ashington House is a three storey brick building with some internal timber partitions and linings, and a corrugated asbestos slate roof. The building has a combination of Georgian and early Victorian styles, with loosely symmetrical elevations. Most of the elevations have been plastered and incised to imitate ashlar.The building is topped by a parapet with exposed classical balusters concealing a hipped roof of corrugated asbestos. The main entrance has a pair of doors which sit slightly off centre; a second door has been blocked in. Features include a five-pane fanlight containing distinctive circular glazing bar with the name 'Ashington House' in gold leaf and four double-pane sash windows occupy the upper floor. Tarmac surrounds the building with brick paving at the building’s rear.

In 1874 Richard Keals, a prominent local architect, produced plans for alterations to the building, but the exact details are unknown. Later, in c.1896, works were carried out to the building façade resulting in its appearance being more ornamental and a brick extension was added to the rear. Within this addition, there is a broad staircase with an ornate turned balustrade, characteristic of mid-late Victorian colonial architectural features.

Ashington House has a number of associations with significant persons or companies which include Richard Seccombe, who is considered the most influential brewer in New Zealand, and one of the owners of the Great Northern Company (later Lion Breweries); Wakefield Press, including such notable figures as Rex Fairburn, Maurice Duggan, O.E. Middleton and Denis Glover. Other associations are with members of the Auckland Provincial Council including Edward King and David Sheehan, and typographer R.W. Lowry of Pilgrim Press.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   36°51'18"S   174°45'55"E
This article was last modified 13 years ago