Excelsior House

The Excelsior House, in Auckland

The Excelsior House is a fine merchant warehouse of 1885, witness of the Victorian architecture of the seafront of Auckland, adorned with a contemporary mural. The Auckland audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this building built for traders in tea, coffee and spices, and the fine painting made in 2020 by the artist Shane Cotton.

The warehouse of the spice merchants and the fresco of Shane Cotton

This building, called Excelsior House, was built around 1885. It was destined to host the house Brown, Barrett and Co, a company of merchants of tea, coffee and spices, who then traded products coming from the whole world towards the young colony. It is a very fine example of the merchant architecture of the end of the nineteenth century in New Zealand, at the time when the seafront of Auckland was covering itself with warehouses and trading posts, with the rhythm of the rise of the port. The building is moreover part of a group of these warehouses of the turn of the century, witnesses of the commercial prosperity of the town. Part of the building was however destroyed in the 1930s, to make way for Commerce Street, opened in order to enlarge and modernise the town centre. What subsists of it has been preserved and enhanced, within the rehabilitation of the heritage district of Britomart. Today, its façade is enhanced by a fine mural, made in 2020 by Shane Cotton, one of the most recognised New Zealand artists, of Maori origin, whose work often dialogues with the history, the symbols and the identity of the country. This marriage between Victorian architecture and contemporary art perfectly illustrates the way in which Auckland makes its heritage live. A Victorian warehouse and an urban canvas, the Excelsior House is a fine stop of the discovery of Auckland.

What to see

Here you discover a fine merchant warehouse built around 1885 for the trading house Brown, Barrett and Co (tea, coffee, spices), a fine example of the Victorian architecture of the seafront; partially destroyed in the 1930s to open Commerce Street, what subsists of it is today adorned with a mural made in 2020 by the Maori artist Shane Cotton. The Excelsior House marries heritage and contemporary art in Auckland. It is a fine stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

The Excelsior House lies on Customs Street East, in the Britomart district, in the heart of the town centre of Auckland, reachable on foot. It is a heritage building whose façade and fresco you admire from the street. You discover it during a walk in the district.

What is the history of the Excelsior House in Auckland?

Built around 1885 for the trading house Brown, Barrett and Co, merchants of tea, coffee and spices, it is a fine example of the Victorian merchant architecture of the seafront; partially destroyed in the 1930s to open Commerce Street, it is today adorned with a mural made in 2020 by the Maori artist Shane Cotton.

Where is the Excelsior House in Auckland?

On Customs Street East, in the Britomart district, in the heart of the town centre of Auckland, in New Zealand.