New Zealand Odyssey: Ex-Synagogue, Bowen Street, Auckland

'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.

  

How do you get rid of graffiti? Answer, you get a professional to use them as a palimpsest for another graffito. This astonishing effort graced a retaining wall on Bowen Street below the old Auckland synagogue built in 1885. I had fun drawing it and can claim not to have left so much paint on the floor as the painters did on the footpath.

The synagogue was a copy of one in Glasgow and thus plagiarized by a certain Edward Bartley, architect. The Jewish community moved out in 1969 whereupon the temple became home to an operatic society after which it became a bank. A certain irony there - the temple becomes home to money lenders; I wonder what Jesus would have said?

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz