User:Pawney/Princes Wharf

Princes Wharf is a former commercial wharf beside the Viaduct Basin on the Auckland waterfront, in Auckland City, New Zealand. It has been redeveloped into a multi-story high-class mixed-use development with commanding views of Waitemata Harbour and Auckland city. It was formerly the site of a cruise ship terminal. The new cruise ship terminal is now directly opposite Prince's Wharf in a building called "The Cloud", which will be opened on 9 September to mark the start of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. On the other side of Prince's Wharf, is the newly developed Wynyard Quarter, opened in August 2011, as an events venue for the Rugby World Cup and other occasions.

The redeveloped wharf, the buildings of which were designed to be reminiscent of ships, contains a Hilton hotel, various restaurants as well as apartments, office space and a multi-story parking building. Princes Wharf houses the largest apartment in New Zealand, a luxury residence built for one of the wharf's developers with 1,061 m² of internal floor space and decks of 416 m² of deck space. The development also contains first-floor viewing decks at the 'prow end' of the development, which are public space like other parts of the wharf.

Working wharf
Princes Wharf was opened 12 May 1924 by Earl Jellicoe, having been planned and built between 1919 and 1924. The HMS Hood, the then largest battlecruiser of the Royal Navy, berthed at the wharf for the commissioning, showing the strategic importance the British Empire attributed to the naval facilities of its colonies.

After World War II, the wharf, and Auckland itself, gained in importance both as starting point and destination for an increasing number of ocean liners (especially in the early post-war years when long-distance air travel was not as established yet), and later on, cruise ships. Ships like the Rangitane and Ruahine often berthed here, and in 1961, a dedicated passenger terminal was built on the wharf.

The redevelopment of the wharf commenced in 1998.

Categories
(reenable when userspace draft is done)
 * Category:Buildings and structures in Auckland
 * Category:Hotels in Auckland
 * Category:Hotels in New Zealand
 * Category:Wharves