Resting again

Today's middle of the day run took me past The Birdcage, on the corner of Victoria Street West and Franklin Road, near the centre of the city. This will be my entry for this week's challenge word, journey.

This tavern was built in 1885/6 and was known at that time as the Rob Roy Hotel. It is now a designated heritage building. That caused a problem for the The NZ Transport Authority when they were building the tunnels to pass underneath here and the adjacent Victoria park to allow for increased motorway traffic flow on SH 1 to and from the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

So NZTA bought the Birdcage, and in August 201o the building undertook a 44 m journey on rollers up Franklin Road and out of the way of the construction. It was moved back in August 2011. It was moved on a specially designed concrete track with a greased teflon surface.

When the hotel was built in this area known as Freeman's Bay, Victoria Park was a busy industrial area with ship builders, saw mills and a brass and iron foundry and glass works. The building was designed by the architects, Edward Mahoney and Sons. The upper floor has nine bedrooms and a sitting room.