THE vAULTS

Built in 1983, the space had previously been occupied by Dominion Breweries till 1982 when it was demolished. Replaced by the Reserve Bank building which had 15 levels including 2 basement vaults. The Vaults were used to house the countries bullion and large quantity's of paper money. During it's operation the Auckland office was responsible for administering exchange controls and interest rate regulations. As the banker to the Government department's it was also utilized to cash public servants' pay cheques. Many of the other office levels were leased out to private businesses during the 90's.
Once the polymer banknotes where introduced which were more durable and to help reduce forging, the branch's purpose become only to store and process banknotes for authenticity and wear. The Bank shut down on 17th November 2000. It was then on sold for $6 million dollars and used as a Asian language school before being abandoned by 2010. As of October 2014 It is under constriction to be New Zealand's first 6 star hotel due to open in 2015.

The Vaults was one of the locations that established Urbex as a group, rather then some online presence of a few people. It became more social orientated and regular, aswell as meeting groups and people who had a similar interest in what we did. 2012 was a crazy fun year.
Every good abandoned location has it's resident, whether it be a ghost, caretaker or homeless person and for the Vaults it was a young homeless guy who lived on the top floor. He was a 23 year old from Hamilton who told me he left home after his relationship with his parents and brother diminished, he enjoyed the lifestyle he said, why wouldn't he, he had a bedroom over looking the harbour on 12th floor of Custom street and free rent.
I quickly learned he had many friends to which I meet a couple and would later notice around the city. While homeless aren't usually that approachable in these circumstances,
(we where invading "their" home) so it took a kind of respect before he taught me the in's and out's of the building. Because god only knew in time to come, I'd meet many more characters at this place.
The video is from 2012 my first visit. I remember being shocked how large the building was and coming across these "Vaults'' the power being on sure was a bonus. |
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Looking back. I clearly didn't take enough photos, but got to explore one of the most insane locations ever, for some reason an old countries national bank is way cooler then a psychiatric hospital. With the massive roof top and lengthy 2 level basement and all that was in between, really was just a old good bunch of shenanigans.
-Nathan
Photo credits Noctivage, Hostge, Tansix
-Nathan
Photo credits Noctivage, Hostge, Tansix