VENUE CHARRED AND BURNED

NZ HERALD: Thursday May 31, 2007. By Scott Kara

FIrefighters contained the damage caused by the fire. Photo / Chris Skelton

The St James Theatre has been closed indefinitely by the Auckland City Council after dodgy wiring in the historic venue caused a fire. Theatre operator Peter McArthur, who has a long-term lease on the building, says the place has been shut down and he's not sure when it is going to reopen. The fire on May 12 happened because of an electrical fault in a switchboard in a backstage dressing room at the Westend Theatre, a small theatre within the complex. "The council has issued a warrant to close the building for public access until the landlord can convince them the complex is safe to be used," says McArthur.

Landlord Paul Doole, an apartment developer, told McArthur the theatre was going to be open on Monday but it wasn't. Doole told TimeOut he couldn't say when the venue was going to reopen. "Council are reviewing it; we've got consultants producing reports and they're doing an audit of the theatre. Being an older building, and being a heritage building, the council are sensitive to safety.

The St James is a category one historic building, meaning it is protected and cannot be bulldozed. Considering the number of reports required to assess what needs to be done to get the building up to standard, it could be a long wait before punters return. It could also be costly.

A council spokesperson says even though the fire was in the Westend Theatre the electrics of the entire complex need investigating. Since the fire the theatre has lost TV2's Pop's Ultimate Star and this week's Solidsonic punk rock festival. Evermore have changed their show to the Bruce Mason Centre in Takapuna. Future shows, such as Xzibit in June, Bloc Party in August, and the Taste of Chaos Tour in October, are up in the air. "The artists' agents are saying if you can't confirm a venue we don't even want to put it on our world trip, which is understandable. So, unless we can get some answers in a hurry then those shows are in jeopardy," says McArthur, who is already more than $100,000 out of pocket because of the lost shows.

Blaze ravages theatre

Sunday May 13, 2007. By Miles Erwin

One of Auckland's iconic theatres has been ravaged by a fire that emergency services suspect was arson.

The West Wing of the St James Theatre in Queen Street was badly damaged in the blaze which broke out at about 3am yesterday. The fire was so hot it melted the visors on firefighters' helmets. No one was in the building at the time with most of the staff heading off to a nearby bar at about 2.30am.

Firefighters said the blaze is being treated as suspicious. Theatre manager John Griffiths said there had been problems at the neighbouring hostel and with vagrants in the area - 13 were rounded up by police last week.

"It was deliberately done, I think. The hostel next door has been plagued by vagabonds. There are street people who live in the entrance."

Griffiths said it was lucky it was an old concrete building which helped to prevent the fire spreading. "It was … built like a fortress," he said. However, the quick efforts of firefighters stopped the building from being gutted - if they had arrived five minutes later the fire would have engulfed the theatre.

"We could have lost the whole building - I know it was really hot," senior station officer Sulu Devoe said. Gareth Romero, a security worker for St James, ran to the theatre when he heard it was on fire and arrived to see black smoke billowing from the building. "We could see the smoke from far away - it was pretty thick. We were all wondering how it started. It's either from the electrics, because it's quite an old building, or it could be arson. But for a building so secure how did they get in in the first place?"

Griffiths said the fire isn't likely to slow the theatre down too much, and it will be ready for the next gig in about a month's time. The main theatre will not be affected.

"It will slow up for maybe a few weeks while they do repairs. It should be up and running by then. It's just a matter of getting a team of builders going in there."