Residents of 13 Garrett Street Face Eviction due to Earthquake Strengthening

After more than 30 years as a communal home and independent arts space, the residents of 13 Garrett Street will leave the central Pōneke building on 22 November.

The residents announced the end of their tenancy in a 7 July Instagram post, saying the building’s new owners planned to carry out earthquake-strengthening work and redevelop the property.

Under the proposed redevelopment, the ground floor—currently occupied by café Pour & Twist and clothing store Dirty Laundry—will become a bar and events venue, while the residential upper floors will be converted into office space.

On its archival website, the 13 Garrett Street collective describes the building as “a two-floor monstrosity in the centre of Pōneke that houses a rotating crew of ~16 people, and has done so since the early 1990s.”

“It is both a home and a community space; a gig venue, a refuge, a non-commercial space to create art and hold political discussions and organising.” 

Over the past year, the building has hosted live music, poetry readings, film festivals, fundraisers, community markets, puppet shows, and potluck dinners, among other events.

In their Instagram announcement, the residents described the end of their tenancy as “shocking and devastating news” for themselves, their community, and the city. 

Commenters shared memories of the flat and expressed concern about what its loss would mean for Wellington’s cultural life. 

Instagram user @biomassfreak described the flat as “A living, beating heart of community, culture and care,” while @_largethey_ called it “an institution, the cultural hub of Wellington, since the 80s.” 

“Garrett is, was and forever will be a gift.” @landlordspec1al wrote. 

Others connected the closure to wider economic pressures affecting artists and young people in Aotearoa. @grains_nz wrote that the disappearance of large inner-city spaces such as Garrett Street was “a big part” of why young people were leaving the country.

Wellington Tree, a familiar figure on the city’s streets, commented: “I wish culture was valued more by those with the power to stomp all over it.” 

@biomassfreak described the closure more bluntly as “a soulless, faceless act of bureaucratic capitalism.” 

Property information published by realestate.co.nz shows 13 Garrett Street was sold last August for $1.6 million. 

Its new owners, Emily and William Broadmore, said they purchased the property because it was “an iconic Wellington building with a rich cultural history and it needed to be earthquake strengthened.” 

The earthquake strengthening will be carried out by William, Director of Maguire Construction which has previously strengthened and restored historic Cuba Street buildings such as Arco House and Maguire’s Building. They are currently restoring the Berry Building, out of which Emily runs The Wellington Writers’ Studio.

William’s bio on the company’s website states he has “23 years experience in construction management and development in Wellington and London, spanning from large commercial new builds to technical heritage strengthening, restoration and conversions.”

“The legal deadline for the strengthening is 2027, so we purchased it knowing we would have to move quickly,” they said in an email interview with Salient. 

Wellington City Council records, however, list the building’s current strengthening deadline as 2031, following an extension granted in June 2025, before the Broadmores purchased the property.  

The Broadmores said they did not see the work as only a strengthening and safety project, but as an opportunity to restore the building in a way that would continue to provide social and cultural value.

“We see this as an opportunity to give Wellington back a special venue that has been missing in Wellington for a long time,” they said.

“The building deserves to be restored in a way that will continue to provide social and cultural value to our community.” 

They are working with Wellington events promoter, Jack Parry, who is expected to operate a multipurpose events venue on the ground floor. 

Parry has been involved in Wellington's music and events scene since 2020, most notably through the music venue Lacuna on Kent Terrace which operated from 2020 until 2022. 

Parry described Lacuna as a space dedicated to “promoting electronic music events that [brought] together local artists and international touring acts.”

“Since we lost our Kent Terrace space in 2022, the objective has been finding a new place to call home,” Parry said in an interview with Salient. 

“Our vision isn't to recreate what Garrett Street has been, because that happened organically over a long period of time. Instead, we want to build on that spirit by creating a permanent home for music, culture and creative events that feels authentic to Wellington today.

“The venue will certainly host our own programme, but we'd also love it to become a platform for other promoters, artists and creative communities,” he said.  

“Ultimately, if people see it as somewhere that brings energy back into the city and contributes positively to Wellington's creative scene, we'll have done our job.” 

The Broadmores share this ambition, saying they hoped the redevelopment would mark an  “exciting new era for the building." 

For the current residence, however, the value of 13 Garrett Street lies not only in the building's function as a venue, but in the community that has developed around it over several decades. 

Asked what she wanted people to understand about the building’s current era, Sarah, the flat’s longest-standing resident, described her most prized keepsake: an Instax photograph she found on the floor while cleaning.

The photograph showed the building’s front door, drawn over in fine black marker with the words “Portal to a Better Future.”

“It’s been pinned to my wall for a year,” they said.

“If you want to understand what our community feels like it's losing—it's that. A possible future that is intrinsically tied to this community, not the building, but the people who have made it what it is.” 

Sarah described Garrett Street as one of the last places in the Cuba Street area where community existed outside commercial pressures.

“We are the last space on Cuba Street where community means something beyond market forces. So many residents, associates, and friends of the flat make it what it is because they see in it what they can't in the rest of the city—a community space not mediated by the dictates of capitalism.”

“A place of genuine physical and emotional warmth that wraps around you and doesn't let go.”

They said the loss of 13 Garrett Street reflected a broader erosion of Wellington’s grassroots communities.

“Wellington is dying,” she said. 

“As defensive as we might get over our city, over our scenes, over the kinds of community that have been built in spite of the relentless drive of the property market—and the usual platitudes that, somehow, the Wellington that we want is just around the corner—things are getting worse.”

Sarah said the city’s cultural heart was being steadily diminished by systemic neglect, political inaction and the commercialisation of everyday life.

“This heart of our city is being wrenched out day by day … through the idea (that we've always stood against) that your everyday life, and the needs of that life, can be atomised and commodified; that a community space that has existed for the better part of half a century can be hollowed, redeveloped, and sold off as a product—a parody of the mahi, the kaupapa, and the care that has given the building the caché that has made it so valuable.

“A year from now, this building will have been redeveloped, and I will be carrying that polaroid in my wallet like a dead wife photo wishing, as all the grieving do, that we could have had just one more year together. 

“For now, I'm clinging to the hope that we'll find a way to keep the portal to a better future from closing.”

The current residents are collecting material for The Museum of Garrett, an online archive  documenting the building and the communities that have formed around it. 

They are seeking “photos, videos, gig and event posters, artwork, gossip, slander, ephemera,” and all other contributions. 

The archive can be found at www.museumofgarrett.com