Can you imagine Wellington without Midland Park?

Sunday, 31 October 2021

The Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association marched against sexual violence in March 2018.

Midland Park has been an oasis in Wellington’s CBD since 1983. Smaller than a rugby field, it is hard to imagine Wellington without the park and its distinctive statue of Katherine Mansfield, writes Nicholas Boyack.

“May Day mayhem” was how the Dominion Post described an anti-capitalism march that ended in Midland Park on May 1, 2003.

Defacing buildings with spray paint, chanting noisily and attacking members of the public, the 200 protesters made their presence felt.

“At Midland Park, a passerby had his tie yanked by a protester, causing a scuffle that resulted in the protester being punched to the ground,” the report noted.

Midland Park on Lambton Quay, between Waring Taylor and Johnson Sts, is favourite with civil servants looking for somewhere to enjoy their sandwiches.

But it has also been a focal point for protests.

**READ MORE:

Wellington office workers flock to Midland Park at lunchtime. The area is one of the few green spaces in the central city.

* Shipwreck sculpture at the heart of Wellington waterfront redevelopment

* Yawning gaps in Wellington's art landscape

A 2008 protest over the rising level of student debt. Massey student Phillip Simpson, took to the stocks on the back of truck parked in Midland Park, to make his point.

* Wellington landmark lit up pink for breast cancer awareness month

* Cuba St car parks to be transformed into public art for third annual Park(ing) Day

The view looking north, captured in a Charles Heaphy painting in 1841, along the beach line of what is today Lambton Quay. The sand spit is where Midland Park is today and the low hill is where the Beehive sits.

It recently featured in an article, recalling the anti MMP protests of Peter Shirtcliffe in 1993.

A May Day protester is chased across the road to Midland Park in 2003.

In March 2018 loud cries of “Me Too” rang out across Lambton Quay. More than 200 Victoria University law students descended on the park, protesting the allegedly inadequate response from law firm Russell McVeagh, situated in the office tower above, to allegations of sexual misconduct.

What the students probably did not realise is that the park is relatively new.

Phillip Wiggins appreciates having somewhere to enjoy his fish and chips.

The Wellington City Council, aware that there was a growing shortage of green space in the city, bought the site in the 1970s.

Matt and Zara Troskot enjoy a lunchtime catch-up at Midland Park.

Ron Flook designed Midland Park. His philosophy was that parks provide “rest, comfort and enjoyable observations” is one that many Washingtonians can appreciate.

It had been home to the Spanish mission style Midland Hotel, designed by Henry Eli White, since 1915.

All around the world, planners were trying to find ways to create city parks where people could enjoy some peace and tranquillity, amongst the concrete jungles that were being built.

It designated Midland Park as the supposed to the first of a number of inner city parks – but not everyone was happy with the idea.

The Anti Bird Killing Association holds a protest in Midland Park. The association was concerned about council plans to cull pigeons in the park. (File photo)

Some opposed the idea of allocating land for green space when money could be made from property on the site, while others protested the loss of a popular drinking hole in the Midland Hotel.

But the council had Ron Flook, a distinguished South African-born architect then working at the council, come up with a plan. In Wellington, he had been linked to the teahouse and stage at the Wellington Botanic Gardens, Cuba Mall and Frank Kitts Park.

Office workers flock to Midland Park in Lambton Quay, at lunchtime. The area is one of the few green spaces in the CBD.

His philosophy for building parks was a simple one: “Public spaces are not to startle but to provide rest, comfort and enjoyable observations,” he once said.

That is a philosophy that Phillip Wiggins relates to.

Gill Greer, CEO of National Council of Women, next to the statue of Katherine Mansfield on Lambton Quay, at Midland Park in 2018.

Enjoying his fish and chips on a recent sunny day and observing those around him, the tax practitioner said it was a spot he liked. “There are not too many spaces outside, where you can sit in the sun and have lunch,” he said.

Zara and Matt Troskot prefer the Wellington waterfront for their lunchtime noodles but retreat to Midland Park if it is too windy.

Both said they were worried about the future of Wellington if more inner city apartments were built, and said they would like to see more green spaces.

Originally from Croatia, Zara Troskot said there were lot more spaces in Croatian cities for people can sit and relax. But, she pointed out, they had an advantage. “We have had hundreds of years to work out what does and what does not work,” she said.

Like a number of other park users, she said that Wellington needed more parks like Midland.

It looks like the council agrees. It recently released its draft Green Network Plan, which aims to increase the central city’s green space over the next 30 years.

The plan notes that only five percent of the central city is green space, compared to 19 per cent in Auckland and 18 per cent in London.

With the population of the central city expected to grow from 18,000 to 36,000 over the next 30 years, the council proposes spending $37 million to make the city greener.

It is not clear what happened to the other parks originally proposed alongside Midland – other than that they didn’t happen.

But today, it is hard to imagine the middle section of Lambton Quay without Midland Park.

It is perhaps a testament to Flook’s original design that although it has had two major spruce ups, the original design based on open lawns, has largely remained intact.

When, in 1993, the council decided the city needed more sculptures, it began a scheme where developers could exchange open space for public art.

This proved popular and Fletcher Challenge, which was building a 25-storey office block behind Midland Park, donated $900,000 for Henry Moore’s sculpture Bronze Form.

It was installed in 1998, much to the annoyance of the Dominion which accused the council of stealing “precious ground from the city’s pitiful green space”. Itmoved to the Wellington Botanic Gardens a few years later.

It was not, however, the end for sculptures in the park. Virginia King’s three metre high tribute to Katherine Mansfield, Woman of Words, was added in 2013.

Publicity at the time noted that Midland Park was appropriate place for a sculpture of a woman who loved words.