The demolition of two historic houses in the Auckland suburb of St Heliers has been suspended after intervention by Auckland mayor Len Brown.
The houses on Turua St are the first of three art deco buildings due to be removed to make way for a retail centre, in a move opponents say will ruin the character of the village.
On Thursday, it appeared efforts by protesters had failed, with demolition work underway and Auckland Council voting against imposing a last-minute heritage protection order to save the buildings.
However Mr Brown on Thursday night made a last ditch appeal to developer Mike Markham who agreed to suspend demolition to give the council time to investigate options for saving the buildings.