The lightwells of Auckland's Town Hall.

Our trip north in January generated 10 posts that I enjoyed showing to you, but now, it's time to start again with information and pictures from closer to home. Let's look again at a place you'll probably remember.

Auckland's Town Hall was opened in 1911. Back then, a feature of large, multi-storied buildings was the lightwell. In architecture a lightwell, light well or air shaft is an unroofed external space provided within the volume of a large building to allow light and air to reach what would otherwise be a dark or unventilated area.

The town hall had two of these within its structure. Some years ago, when air-conditioning was added to the building, these two lightwells were enclosed with a roof and the space beneath them transformed. 

This post takes a look at the two areas and what we saw back when we attended Handel's Messiah. To me, one of the benefits of attending any production at any venue, is the chance to explore the building. I have told you before that I'm insatiably curious about what is inside buildings, especially historic ones like Auckland's Town Hall. Maybe you'll enjoy seeing what's inside too.

I've mentioned before that this building was meant to resemble the prow of a ship.

I can't show before and after shots of course, but here are several views of what the north lightwell looks like today. 

You can see the lights of the wine and ice cream bar to the left. 

Allie and the boys are in line for ice cream here. 

Back in the lightwell area again. That is the glass elevator that captured Arram's attention. 

Beautiful, isn't it?

This is the second of the lightwells. 

This is a lounge area you saw through the door in the picture above.

The only problem with getting the chance to explore a building is that I can never explore it fully. There are always the areas that only the staff has access to. And it's my opinion, that some of those areas would be the very best to poke around in. Ah, such curiousity I feel, to know what lies in those restricted spaces. No wonder I love exploring cities. I never know what I'll find just around the next corner, and there are no 'staff only' signs.  

Of all the places that I have seen, and have wished that I could know completely, the Cathedral in Toledo, Spain has got to be the one to which I most wish I had full access.  This is a picture of the altar area of this 13th century wonder.

In 1999, Jeanne and I came to Madrid. We were on vacation, but we were also researching what it would take to bring a group of her Spanish II students to Spain for a week the followiing summer. We had already located suitable rooms in Madrid and selected a number of restaurants, museums and events we wanted the kids to see. It was Jeanne's plan to include a side trip by train on the itinerary, and Toledo was the place she chose. So here we were, checking it out 

The Cathedral is huge and Jeanne and I had separated and were slowly and quietly wandering around it. I was near the altar when I saw a small trap door behind the altar being raised from below. A monk came up the stairs, turned at the top, and let the door fall back into place. I was amazed to say the least.  

What an experience it would be to be able to descend those steps and learn what lay beneath the Cathedral. It would be an explorer's, a historian's, a spelunker's dream to see it. I was running various methods for asking the monk to allow me downstairs through my mind when he ended my day-dream by disappearing through a door leading out of the Cathedral. 

Now, whenever I am exploring the rooms in a historic building or see an interesting alleyway leading away from a street, I feel a little of the sort of longing I felt in the Cathedral, to search out the unknown. This is a big city. I think that I'll have many oportunities to see more it it's secrets and surprises.  And I'll share them with you.      -djf