Belleknowes resident Vaughn Malkin has taken issue with University of Auckland architecture Associate Prof Julia Gatley’s support of a council proposal to make his home heritage protected.
The house, sometimes known as Rutherford House, is one of 146 buildings the Dunedin City Council has identified may be added to the heritage schedule, as part of proposed changes to the district plan.
In her role as chairwoman of heritage advocacy group Docomomo New Zealand, Assoc Prof Gatley made submissions in support of nine properties being added to the plan, including Mr Malkin’s.
"It is good to see the Rutherford House here, a 1959 house by [architects] Warren and Mahoney, who only established their partnership in 1958 and whose well-known early work is mostly in Christchurch," her submission said.
Mr Malkin made a second submission, saying Assoc Prof Gatley included "no mention of building owners, their desires, issues or how this fits into a conversation about heritage".
"This gaslighting of homeowners seems a common feature of the heritage discussion, and it has certainly been my experience of this process so far — I want that to change.
"Although our homes are coveted by people like [Assoc Prof] Gatley, we apparently do not fit into the nuanced academic discourse."
Assoc Prof Gatley was using "the gravitas of her academic position" to back the submission with no individual evidence, he said.
He opposed her submission and asked for it to be disallowed.
Speaking to the Otago Daily Times, Mr Malkin said while everyone was entitled to make a public submission, he took issue with Assoc Prof Gatley’s.
"I'm not against the notion of preserving heritage.
"But if you're going to offer an opinion on an individual's place, then I would expect there to be some evidence to support that."
The organisation she represented overlooked homeowners.
"It's not interested in the grown-up conversation about what saving heritage means for everybody, not just the people who want to rave and froth about it, but also the people who have to look after it."
Assoc Prof Gatley told the ODT mid 20th century buildings were under-represented on New Zealand heritage schedules and the sooner more could be assessed, the more likely the best examples could be retained.
"What I was doing in my submission was offering a national perspective on Dunedin’s current plan change and commending the Dunedin City Council on both for its recognition that mid 20th-century buildings have been under-represented on its heritage schedule, and its initiative to add more now."
Owners were very important and there was not a lot of public money available to support them, she said.
"What I always hope for is that the people who buy the significant buildings, including houses, want to keep them, enjoy them and look after them rather than wanting to demolish or redevelop them.
"If they want to demolish and start again, then they should start with something that is not significant."
She had never known a submission be disallowed because an owner disagreed — it "wouldn’t be consistent with the intentions of the process".
A heritage building hearing will begun on May 19. A hearing for other changes will likely be held in August.
