Behind the façade of a landmark hall in Auckland’s Ponsonby, a very different kind of life takes place than what was originally intended for the stately building. Built in 1907 and having previously been owned by two private societies (the International Order of Odd Fellows, then the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes), when Jess Britten and her husband Warren Durling came across it, it was not as commanding as it had once been. In fact, the whole place was in a state of disrepair.
“We’d been looking for a property for a while — almost anything, anywhere in Auckland,”
