Part One
151 Queen Street
by Riley Bogard-Allan*
151 Queen Street
The 1980s were a time of transformation in New Zealand, marked by economic liberalisation, corporate excess, and a cultural shift that redefined the country’s identity ‘from the world’s first welfare state to the world’s first post-welfare state’. The fourth Labour government instituted sweeping reforms known as Rogernomics. Spearheaded by Minister of Finance Roger Douglas, this involved deregulation, privatisation, and the removal of subsidies which reshaped the economy and heralded a new era of market-driven growth.
Amid this backdrop, urban landscapes evolved to reflect the changing times. Auckland’s Central Business District (CBD) became a playground for corporate ambition, with new skyscrapers symbolising power and modernity. This research series examines how the evolution of built heritage sheds light on social and cultural changes. It does so primarily by following the lives of three Queen Street locations: numbers 151, 131 and 205. I centre on the 1980s – the decade which exemplifies the phenomenon best – but to tell a comprehensive story of these three locations and how they reflect sociocultural change necessitates examination of decades before and after as well.
In this first article, I explore 151 Queen Street. The SAP Tower was once the Fay Richwhite Tower, a building linked to the commercial ethos of 1980s New Zealand and its corporate juggernaut namesake. The story of this tower shows the intersection of economic ambition and architectural transformation that occurred on New Zealand’s main street during that period.
Before 151 Queen Street became a capitalist symbol, its site played a quieter role in Auckland’s history. In the early twentieth century, the site housed modest retail premises and small businesses, typical of the area’s mixed-use character. One high-profile occupant was the New Zealand Herald, who maintained buildings adjacent to each other at 151 Queen Street and on Wyndham Street and Albert Street (The Herald maintained a presence on the block for 152 years to 2015).
Not dissimilar to other metropolises of the world like London and New York, as Auckland’s population and economy grew, so did the demand for more substantial and modern structures. By the 1970s, the pressure to maximise land use in the CBD meant many older buildings were being replaced with taller, more ambitious constructions. Combine this with Roger Douglas’s forthcoming privatisation programme and deregulation of the financial sector and the stage was set for a transformation of the CBD, including 151 Queen Street.
New Zealand Herald buildings on Queen St, Wyndham St and Albert St, circa late 1970s or early 1980s.
Fay, Richwhite & Company was a private investment and merchant banking firm founded by Sir Michael Fay and David Richwhite. The company was emblematic of the 1980s—an era of aggressive financial manoeuvring, leveraged buyouts, and speculative investments. Operating at the forefront of Rogernomics, Fay Richwhite played a pivotal role in the privatisation of state assets and the restructuring of major industries. The firm’s activities often drew public and media attention, earning both admiration and criticism for its perceived embodiment of wealth and excess.
Sir Michael Fay and David Richwhite were central figures in the radical changes in New Zealand society in the 1980s and 1990s, a period covered by the TVNZ docuseries ‘The Revolution’. Fay, known for his sharp business acumen and flamboyant personality (Metro: ‘the one with grand ideas’), became one of the country’s wealthiest individuals. Richwhite, with a quieter but equally incisive approach (‘the professional, thorough and careful banker’), complemented Fay’s style. Together, they forged a partnership that drove major financial transactions.
Metro reported that Richwhite had accumulated $52 million in profit for 1989, “and Fay was coming home to help him spend it”. Meanwhile, in 1991, Fay, Richwhite & Co highlighted its involvement in deals and contracts worth a combined $3.7 billion. If the assumption that Fay Richwhite typically earned four per cent of the deal price in fees held true, the company walked away with $147 million in revenue that year. The 1991 NBR Rich List estimated that Fay and Richwhite were each personally worth $150 million.
While their successes were celebrated in some quarters, Fay and Richwhite also attracted scrutiny. The pair were characteristic, even symbolic of 1980s ‘yuppie’ culture. That is, ‘young urban professionals’ or ‘young upwardly-mobile professionals’ who emerged not only on Wall Street but Queen Street as well in the eighties. Buoyed by the money flowing through the deregulated economy, Auckland’s yuppies lived extravagant lives. Led by its two namesakes, Fay Richwhite disciples exemplified the yuppie style and manner. Michael Fay’s fortieth birthday party in March 1989, in which one hundred and thirty guests were ferried or flown to his own Great Mercury Island, and a Fay Richwhite Christmas party in 1991 where staff sang, ‘I’m dreaming of a Richwhite Christmas’ stand out as particularly exorbitant and personify yuppie culture.
Sir Michael Fay and David Richwhite, the quintessential yuppies.
Fay pictured here with Prime Minister David Lange: the former’s investment banking firm frequently won contracts to advise the fourth Labour government as it embarked on its asset-sale programme.
Fay and Richwhite’s ambition extended to calls for New Zealand to become the Switzerland of the South Pacific, ‘and they weren’t thinking watches or chocolate, but banking’ (Metro). He told a 1987 audience that Rogernomics would turn New Zealand into an economic superpower. Pillars of this ‘comfortable picture of New Zealand as a Swiss-style haven well away from world troublespots’, as a National Business Review editorial put it, were 3%-6% growth through the 1990s, a kiwi dollar worth more than the Australian or US currencies and personal income tax abolished by 1995. Fay’s bold prediction in September 1987 didn’t come close, in large part due to the stock market crash that sent indices around the world tumbling less than a month later.
New Zealand never became New Switzerland, but Fay’s vision certainly manifested in the Fay Richwhite Tower. A 1986 instalment of NBR reported that Michael Fay, presumably along with Richwhite, acquired 151 Queen Street off Wellington property investor Hugh Riddiford for around $6 million in the mid-eighties, who had in turn acquired it from the New Zealand Herald in 1983 for $4.1 million.
The contrasting architecture at 151 Queen Street over time is symbolic of a wider cultural shift in Auckland’s CBD.
151 Queen Street was envisioned as a statement of corporate ambition. It became synonymous with its namesake company and the world of finance during that decade. Designed by Dino Burrantini of Peddle Thorpe & Aitken, the building reflected contemporary trends in commercial architecture – clean vertical lines, bronze reflective glass facades, and a modern aesthetic. The narrow ends of the tower are separated into three parts which terminate at different heights, creating the illusion of adjacent towers.
The Fay Richwhite Tower housed tenants distinctly differently from those previously occupying 151, reflecting not only its premium status in Auckland’s commercial property market, but also a changing CBD at large. Initially, the building served as the headquarters for Fay Richwhite and other financial firms like NZI, cementing its association with high-stakes corporate activity. Other occupants played in real estate (Century 21 and Colliers), consulting (Sedgwick), and architecture (Peddle Thorpe & Aitken, who designed the building). 1980s glitz and glamour had also made time for a health club and coffee shop within the building. Over time, its tenant mix further diversified to include law firms, executive search firms and multinational companies. This adaptability ensured its continued relevance in Auckland’s CBD into the nineties and beyond.
Out with old and in with the new: almost overnight, the Fay Richwhite Tower came to loom over an adjacent New Zealand Herald building.
At its completion, the building stood as one of Auckland’s tallest and most prestigious office towers, symbolising the economic optimism of the time. In 1992, upon the building’s completion, it was one of six winners of the New Zealand Institute of Architects-Resene National Awards of Architecture. A less prestigious title, it also earned the title ‘the big pinkie’ because of its unique rose-tinted glass.
151 Queen Street attracted significant attention during and after its construction. Publications like Metro magazine and major newspapers frequently commented on the building, often linking it to the fortunes of Fay Richwhite and the broader economic narrative of the time. Writing for Metro, Jan Corbett and Nicola Legat contrasted Fay and Richwhite’s early beginnings leasing a two-room suite in O’Connell Street, South Auckland with ‘the huge, pink Fay Richwhite Tower’ which they said announced to pedestrians along Queen Street, ‘We’ve arrived! We’re successful! We’re 29 floors of granite and glass!’
Some praised its modern design and role in revitalising Queen Street, while others criticised it as a monument to excess and a disregard for heritage preservation. The building became a physical representation of the polarising impact of Rogernomics – a beacon of progress to some, and a symbol of greed to others.
There are always people who oppose successful individuals, especially in New Zealand and especially investment bankers. But two out of three letters to the editor concerning Corbett and Legat’s Metro article were taking offence at something outside the thrust of the article. The third respondent was objecting to ‘the Switzerland of the Pacific’ target, though their last line read, ‘If, within 18 months, Fay, Richwhite are history, remember you read it here first.’ Alternatively, one commenter on an Auckland Libraries Research publication focusing on the New Zealand Herald’s presence at 151 lamented at how ‘those two confidence trickers were able to tear down that beautiful building to put up a shoddy and forgettable glass tower…’
Possibly New Zealand’s most prolific architectural historian and benefactor of the Auckland Library Heritage Trust and Auckland History Initiative, John Stacpoole held the Fay Richwhite tower in a positive light. In an interview published by Architecture New Zealand in 2004, Mr Stacpoole said, of his own volition, ‘I did quite like that bronze building of Fay Richwhite.’ Stacpoole was a great ambassador for Auckland’s heritage, particularly colonial-Victorian architecture. Thus, the tension between his comment and the phenomenon of glass skyscrapers replacing buildings of historical or heritage value must not be lost.
Leading Auckland publication Metro Magazine profiled Fay and Richwhite upon completion of their award-winning skyscraper.
151 Queen Street stands as a testament to the ambitions and contradictions of 1980s New Zealand. Its construction and history reflect the transformative forces of that era – economic liberalisation, corporate ambition, and urban redevelopment.
As Auckland continues to evolve, so too does 151 Queen Street. The Fay, Richwhite Tower is now the SAP tower. 151 is arguably emerging as a bellweather location: housing the Herald for over a century as newspapers dominated the landscape, housing Fay, Richwhite during the financial sector’s golden hour and now bears the name of a leading technology firm. Thus, the building is consistently at the forefront of economic activity CBD.
And on the outside, from below and at a distance, 151 Queen Street shines. The University of Auckland’s Errol Haarhoff said in 2006 that 151 “still stands out for its elegance among many other commercial developments that now surround it.” Almost twenty years on from that and forty years since it was an idea in Michael Fay and David Richwhite’s heads, the building and what it represents remains an important part of Auckland’s developing history.
In the next article, we explore the life of 131 Queen Street. Its transformation is different in that, although the same building has stood there for over a century, it has always evolved to meet the needs of a changing Auckland society.