Construction work on Auckland’s 95-year-old St James Theatre is expected to begin this year after demolition and planning work took place in 2023.   

The theatre in the heart of the city has been closed since 2007 when a fire raised concerns about safety and compliance. After years of campaigning to save it, last July the government pledged $15 million in funding, matching Auckland Council’s commitment.   

Most of the hard demolition and site investigations are complete and now the first step of the rebuild is constructing a new foundation and seismically upgrading the structure, building owner Steve Bielby said.  

The funding committed will pay for the structural upgrade. This phase one secures the building and allows it to be used in a limited capacity, for things like concerts and comedy performances.   

Steve Bielby, a director of St James Holdings which owns the St James Theatre, inside the theatre for the Government announcement in July, 2023. Photo / Supplied | File 

The second phase will involve a conversation about what building’s future use – with specific requirements and higher costs to make it suitable for specialist performing arts like ballet, orchestra, or opera.  

Originally built as a performance theatre for vaudeville acts, it was also used as a movie theatre, before returning to live entertainment, hosting the likes of John Mayer and Jack Johnson in the 2000s.   

“This building has always evolved and been what Auckland needed it to be,” Bielby said.   

He thinks that evolution will continue when it re-opens.   

“It has got to be dynamic, our society's dynamic, what we want and need changes and who am I to dictate what that should look like.”  

That changing use has meant there have been interventions over time, like a colour switch from its original bright gold and orange tones. In keeping with an authentic restoration, St James will be taken back to those original colours of 1928.   

Another original feature returning is a pair of statues that are the same as the ones that were stolen during a break-in last year.   

Specialists identified their origin from a marking on the bases left behind in the theft. They found the pair were from Val d’Osne Foundry - an art foundry that operated just outside of Paris in the 1800s to early 1900s. According to Bielby’s research, the Titanic also had a pair on its grand staircase, the Vatican has a pair and so does The Met.    

The stolen statues were identified in this exhibition catalogue from the late 1800s. Photo / Supplied   

The statues were located in a catalogue from an 1891 exhibition and the hunt was on. With a very high market price out of reach, the team was able to locate one without a base and the second in the garden of a person living on the outskirts of Paris.   

Bielby’s traveled to France to secure the statues and the clearance process to import them is underway, with a hope to have them here by mid-year.   

Another quirk uncovered in the process relates to two statues on interior walls inside the theatre. When they were originally installed in 1928, they were nude, but due to uproar, robes were plastered on them, remaining in place for the life of the building.   

That leaves the question of whether the restoration team will take them back to their 1928 form, currently the topic of debate among conservation architects. Bielby, however, remains impartial.  

Shannon Johnstone is a journalist at Newstalk ZB based in Auckland covering education and general news. She joined Newstalk ZB in 2021 and previously worked at Hawke's Bay Today.