Viaduct Basin

Viaduct Basin, now known as Viaduct Harbour, is a former commercial harbour on the Auckland waterfront that has been turned into a development of mostly upscale apartments, office space and restaurants. It is located on the site of a formerly run-down area of the Freemans Bay / Auckland CBD waterfront in Auckland City, New Zealand. As a centre of activity of the 2000 America's Cup hosted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, the area enjoyed considerable popularity with locals and foreign visitors.HistoryOriginal purposeDesigned along the line of the basins common in London, the Viaduct Basin is so-called because of a failed scheme by the Auckland Harbour Board in the early years of the 20th Century. As the size of ships was increasing dramatically, rather than build new wharves or dredge the harbour channels, it was proposed that cargo ships moor out in the Waitemata harbour channel and be unloaded into "lighters", small barges that would then ferry the goods to shore via the specially built wharves in the new "Viaduct Lighter Basin". The shipping companies refused to co-operate and forced the Harbour Board to engage in dredging and construct new wharves.This left the partially completed lighter basin without a real purpose, so it was used to berth the various fishing boats and thus tidy up the appearance of the Auckland waterfront further east. Next to the Viaduct Basin a fish market and various warehouses were constructed, including Turners & Growers Ltd, the city's main produce wholesalers. The far side of the area was connected by a mechanical bridge that was able to be raised to allow passage into the basin to the fishing vessels which used it.