Historic Places Wellington has asked for heritage listing of three Oriental Bay buildings.
The two 1923 ‘tenement buildings’ at 5–11 Grass St were built for £10,900 by David Norman Wilkinson II, whose father had established the tea gardens and plant nursery nearby.
These two identical two-storey flats were designed by well-known Wellington architect, Thomas Turnbull and Son. The two-storey bungalow-style flats each have an arcade of masonry arches and columns that front the entrances; bay windows adorned with coloured glass; and enclosed sunrooms with arched window frames mimicking the masonry arches beneath. There have been many long-standing tenants and owners and except for losing their front gardens and masonry walls, the buildings appear largely intact. The flats are the most distinctive buildings on Grass Street and are very unusual in Wellington.
5–7 Grass Street
Hiding behind a 1920s stucco front at 230 Oriental Parade, is possibly the oldest building in Oriental Bay. The house was built about 1875 by Paul Coffey, a well-known and early Wellington boat-builder and settler. Coffey was a member of the initial Harbour Board and a JP. He paid rates on the house in 1876 and it originally had a U-shaped hip roof with a gap at the rear for drainage. The hip was replaced by gables and augmented by a 1920s mono-pitched stucco addition to the front. The flat-roofed extension was built with two gables facing the street by architect and builders William and Thomas Page. Despite removing the traditional front of the house, the rest of the dwelling remained largely intact. In 1963, the house was sold to Wellington jeweller Andre Miet and remains with the Miet family today but has been rented for many years.
— Felicity Wong, Bay View Online newsletter, May 2022