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Story: Inner-city living

Symonds St Flats

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Symonds St Flats

In the 1940s the government built a number of high-rise blocks of rental flats for inner-city residents. They were designed in the austere Modernist architectural style, which had become popular in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. An Auckland example is the Symonds St Flats, pictured here in 1947. The building was used for state housing in 2009, and still appeared strikingly modern.

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Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira

Reference: Sparrow 3942c

by Sparrow Industrial Pictures Ltd

Permission of the Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Philip Morrison and Ben Schrader, Inner-city living – City flats, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/23745/symonds-st-flats (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Philip Morrison and Ben Schrader, published 6 April 2010.