Orange Coronation Hall - The Orange

Since 1923, The Orange Coronation Hall served Auckland as a popular entertainment venue, especially for community dances, fondly remembered by the older generation. The fun to be had here even featured in a cheeky little song. After falling into decline then undergoing a dramatic upgrade and change process, the Hall and neighbouring site re-emerged in 2016 as a striking example of urban renewal. The design, by Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects & Tonkin Zulaika Greer Architects in association, and Dave Pearson Architects, won the heritage award in Auckland Architecture Awards in 2016. The repaired and strengthened hall has been fitted out as office space, and an ingenious wrap around cube construct next door, in outrageous Orange, serves as an apartment block while in architectural terms appears to shelter the old hall from the future.

The song is by Peter Cape, who also wrote "Taumaranui on the Main Trunk Line" and was actually about the dance halls of Taranaki, The Orange features as the ultimate 'slick' city dance hall comparison.

  I got a new brown sports-coat,
  I got a new pair of grey strides,
  I got a real Kiwi haircut,
  A bit off the top, an' short back and sides.
  Soon as I've tied up me guri,
  Soon as I've swept out the yard,
  Soon as I've hosed down me gumboots,
  I'll be living it high and hitting it hard.
  I'm gonna climb onto me tractor,
  Gonna belt 'er out of the gate,
 'Cause there's a hop on down at the hall,and
  She starts sharp somewhere 'bout 1/2 past 8.

  Look at the sheilas cutting the supper
  Look at the kids sliding over the floor
  An' look at the great big bunch of jokers
  Hanging 'round the door.
 
  We've got the teacher to bash the pianna,
  And Joe from the store on the drums.
  We're as slick as the Orange* in Auckland
  For whooping things up and making them hum.

 I had a schottische with the tart from the butchers
 Got stuck for a waltz with the constable's wife
 Had a beer from the keg on the cream-truck
 And the cop had one too, you can bet your life

  Yeah, it's great being out with the jokers
  When the jokers are sparking and bright,
  And it's great giving cheek to the sheilas
  Down the hall on Saturday night