Auckland Town Hall is an Edwardian building on Queen Street in the Auckland CBD, New Zealand, known both for its original and ongoing use for administrative functions (such as Council meetings and hearings), as well as its famed Great Hall and separate Concert Chamber. Auckland Town Hall and its surrounding context is highly protected as a 'Category A' heritage site in the Auckland District Plan. History Building Since as early as 1872, there were plans to create a town hall for the city of Auckland. A design competition for the building was held in the early 1900s, which was won by Melbourne-based architects JJ & EJ Clark. Opened on 14 December 1911 by Lord Islington, Governor of New Zealand, the building is one of the most prominent heritage structures on Queen Street. Costing £126,000 (approximately $21 million in 2017) to construct, the Italian Renaissance Revival design by JJ & EJ Clark was selected from among 46 proposals. The five-storey building was specially designed to fit the wedge-shaped piece of land that had been acquired for it in the 1870s at the junction of Queen Street and Grey Street. It bears a striking resemblance to the Lambeth Town Hall at Brixton, London, built at around the same time. The Town Hall formed Auckland's first permanent seat of both administration and entertainment in the city's history, with its Great Hall (seating 1,673 people) modelled on the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, and considered as having among the finest acoustics in the world. Auckland residents had mixed opinions of the building after it was constructed, with some likening it to a cheese wedge or a flat iron. The exterior is constructed of two types of stone; the ground floor is made of a dark volcanic basalt, heavily rusticated, which contrasts with the pale stonework of the upper storeys. Oamaru limestone from the south island was used for the upper part of the building. The lower part is often assumed to be Auckland basalt but was actually sourced from Melbourne, in Australia. This was probably due to the architects already having a history of sourcing consistently good quality stone from the quarries there, as well as the availability of heavy duty steam saws to handle the notoriously difficult stone. The interior contains several varieties of English ceramic surfaces – tessellated floors and glazed ceramic wall tiles. The semi-circular Council Chamber is fitted with wood panelling and