Prominent Melbourne architectural firm A. & K. Henderson designed this building. Costing £46,000 to erect, this four-storey Art Deco ‘moderne’ style building has a wielded (as opposed to riveted) structural steel frame. The NZ Broadcasting Service’s national commercial aerial was also located on the tower. The building was originally a light buff colour and its base was polished red granite.
Its strong vertical emphasis includes the tower, the tall windows, shallow wall planes, articulated skyline and Stripped Classical elements. The design was said to have derived from a 1910 Manhattan building code regulation that required tall structures to diminish inward gradually, to prevent a ‘street canyon’ development. Mitchell & Mitchell, a leading Wellington architectural practice, supervised its construction, and it was officially opened in June 1938.
The verandah was installed in 1984, and its street frontage was upgraded in 1989. The building remains best known as the T & G Building.
