NZ | Heritage Thread

Richard7666 · January 3rd, 2009, 08:45 AM

This thread is for people to post nice buildings which have been demolished in the name of 'progress' so others may bask in their now non-existant glory. So, here goes:

I was reading a book called Murihiku: The Southland Story recently, and spotted an old photograph (not the pic below, which is a...what exactly is it? Paint?) of the old Invercargill Post Office and Telegraph Exchange which sadly no longer stands:

What was:

and what's there now:

Hooray for bland office buildings.

jarbury · January 3rd, 2009, 10:05 AM

Wow that's an amazing building. I don't have photos, but I know the building on the corner of Victoria and Queen Street above where the Starbucks is was at one point a nice 19th century building, but got replaced by a horrific 1960s office building.

Actually.... a lot of Queen Street is that same story

Blah · January 3rd, 2009, 10:49 AM

Urban planners in the 60s and 70s were total morons and I want to invent a time machine so I can go back and give them a good swift kick in the nuts.

jarbury · January 3rd, 2009, 11:16 PM

That's very true, although looking at many of the most recent suburbs of Auckland you could argue that things haven't got much better.

In the 60s and 70s the whole NZ 'cultural cringe' meant that we didn't really value our heritage, so therefore there wasn't really that much effort to save those buildings.

We weren't alone though. New York demolished the incredible Pennsylvania Station to build Madison Square Garden - one of the biggest heritage building tragedies.

Richard7666 · January 4th, 2009, 08:43 AM

Maybe in 50 years time we'll look back on ugly 60s/70s office buildings and think they're beautiful examples of old architecture...but I hope not. I can't imagine the people in the 60s knocking down buildings from the 1800s/early 1900s thought they were ugly. That would be interesting to know, though, what they thought at the time they commited their aesthetic crimes.

jarbury · January 4th, 2009, 09:35 AM

All modernisation..... newer is better..... that was the thinking.

Thank Le Corbusier. He wanted to bulldoze central Paris and replace it with commie blocks after all.

KaneD · January 4th, 2009, 10:54 AM

Best building on the outside would surely have been the old Seacliff Lunatic Asylum near Dunedin, at the time, it was the largest building in NZ.

Sadly it too has been demolished except for a few out-buildings.

Richard7666 · January 4th, 2009, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KaneD

Best building on the outside would surely have been the old Seacliff Lunatic Asylum near Dunedin, at the time, it was the largest building in NZ.

Sadly it too has been demolished except for a few out-buildings.

Agreed:

stevejones · January 5th, 2009, 11:49 AM

Easily Seacliff Mental Hospital.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seacliff_Mental_Hospital

I tell my friends about this place and they cannot believe it is in New Zealand. I visited the old ruins of this site last year and it's incredible. Some of the brickwork is still there. It's now called the Truby King reserve. There is still an old sign that says "enchanted forest" which leads down a beautiful garden. My mother who was a psychiatric nurse won't go near Seacliff now because she says it's haunted. It did feel pretty creepy when I visited.

It has a beautiful outlook over the sea on a nice day, I'd imagine it could get pretty cold at the site on a bad day.

The outlook is also incredible, over the sea with a railway stop on the way. There is now a backpackers called the "asylum" in the old horse stables.

UglyBob · January 6th, 2009, 07:37 AM

Yes Seacliff must have been an amazing structure; the asylum used to have a population of over 1300 -- it was really more of a small town.

The Dunedin Stock Exchange is another building that shouldn't have gone ...
Will try and find a photo I can post; link below to National Library image:

http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz/log...ewimage_object

KaneD · January 9th, 2009, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevejones

Easily Seacliff Mental Hospital.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seacliff_Mental_Hospital

I tell my friends about this place and they cannot believe it is in New Zealand. I visited the old ruins of this site last year and it's incredible. Some of the brickwork is still there. It's now called the Truby King reserve. There is still an old sign that says "enchanted forest" which leads down a beautiful garden. My mother who was a psychiatric nurse won't go near Seacliff now because she says it's haunted. It did feel pretty creepy when I visited.

It has a beautiful outlook over the sea on a nice day, I'd imagine it could get pretty cold at the site on a bad day.

The outlook is also incredible, over the sea with a railway stop on the way. There is now a backpackers called the "asylum" in the old horse stables.

Huh? I drove past the site a few months ago and all I could see apart from some of the old stable buildings was a sign on the gate that tresspasers will be prosecuted so I didn't go any further.

Are you saying that there are still some remains of the building? I'd love to drop by to see it.

stevejones · January 9th, 2009, 04:53 AM

sure there are, I went, i'll post photos of them.

It was pretty creepy the day I went, it was so quiet, but some birds were making a horrible noise.

Go into the Truby King reserve next to the backpackers. The old foundations are still there along with the brickwork. It must have been incredible. It looks like a few tennis courts now, but it's actually foundations. I'm forever gobsmacked at the thing and when I tell my friends about it, they look at me as if I deserved to be locked up in it because they don't believe it was really there.

KaneD · January 9th, 2009, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevejones

sure there are, I went, i'll post photos of them.

It was pretty creepy the day I went, it was so quiet, but some birds were making a horrible noise.

Go into the Truby King reserve next to the backpackers. The old foundations are still there along with the brickwork. It must have been incredible. It looks like a few tennis courts now, but it's actually foundations. I'm forever gobsmacked at the thing and when I tell my friends about it, they look at me as if I deserved to be locked up in it because they don't believe it was really there.

ooooh yes please.... hope you got lots of pickies of this.

stevejones · January 13th, 2009, 09:18 AM

Photos posted below

jarbury · January 13th, 2009, 09:48 AM

Use something like photobucket.

www.photobucket.com

Brizzy-Mike · January 14th, 2009, 04:38 AM

NZ is already preserving 1960s-70s brutalism. There was a protection order on the Auckland University Student Centre, a big butt ugly concrete thing.

stevejones · January 14th, 2009, 08:34 AM

Seacliff Mental Asylum ruins:

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

Kuriheka Estate, North Otago, original estate of Todd Family, richest family in NZ. Gotta love it ! This estate is filled with World War I memorabillia and is still subsidised by the Todd Family. It is a tourist operation about 100km north of Dunedin

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

More homesteads in beautiful North Otago, old wealthy aristocratic family estates all built in 1800s complete with peasants (the human kind, not to be confused with the bird pheasant).

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

Flourmill in North Otago, Ngapara I think, it still produces flour which is sold in Oamaru

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

local carwrecking yard in Oamaru, they can be picky about historic preservation in Oamaru !

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

Davee · January 14th, 2009, 11:21 AM

Fantatstic Pics Steve - Thanks

You could think you are in Scotland with some of those scences.

Seacliffe site is just a CRIME!

The Todd Family home is just amazing.

I'd love to see more pictures of Oamaru. I think it would need it's own thread though.

stevejones · January 14th, 2009, 11:35 AM

Alot of those places would send shivers up most NZers spines and most NZers wouldn't know they exist.

Seacliff gave me the absolute creeps.

North Otago is one of the best parts of NZ. Sir Robert Jones says Waitaki Valley is the best part of NZ.

Those old family estates are a dime a dozen in North Otago, they were celebrated war vets or Aristocrats from England and they had a view that NZ was going to be just like home, including the class system. Campbells estate shown as the castle above comes with it's own town for 500 odd peasants.

In North Otago in the late 1800's, it was the town vs country with the peasants living in Oamaru and gentry in the country. Some of these houses come with their own deer parks (for shooting deer in or chasing foxes). All the public buildings in Oamaru were paid for by Gentry from the country, so they were beautiful and expensive. All the rest of the buildings in Oamaru are slums for the poor mostly Catholics who were the labour.

Beautiful, just beautiful. Outside every estate they planted one Oak tree each peasant killed in World War I. So as you drive down each country road, you can could how many lives were lost from each estate and this is also done in the main rd of Oamaru.

Sending the peasants to World War I was a marketing exercise by the elite whose markets for lamb was England. The first shipment of frozen lamb for export in NZ was made in North Otago.

stevejones · January 14th, 2009, 12:23 PM

More North Otago scenes:

image hosted on flickr

And some paintings of North Otago scenery by my father. He's an artist, if you're interested in any of his work get in touch.

image hosted on flickr

image hosted on flickr

January 3rd, 2009, 08:45 AM	#1
Richard7666 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Invercargill Posts: 876 Likes (Received): 3	NZ \| Heritage Thread This thread is for people to post nice buildings which have been demolished in the name of 'progress' so others may bask in their now non-existant glory. So, here goes: I was reading a book called Murihiku: The Southland Story recently, and spotted an old photograph (not the pic below, which is a...what exactly is it? Paint?) of the old Invercargill Post Office and Telegraph Exchange which sadly no longer stands: What was: and what's there now: Hooray for bland office buildings. Last edited by Richard7666; January 4th, 2009 at 11:50 AM.

January 6th, 2009, 07:37 AM	#10
UglyBob Registered User Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Wellington Posts: 2,426 Likes (Received): 1	Yes Seacliff must have been an amazing structure; the asylum used to have a population of over 1300 -- it was really more of a small town. The Dunedin Stock Exchange is another building that shouldn't have gone ... Will try and find a photo I can post; link below to National Library image: http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz/log...ewimage_object Last edited by UglyBob; January 6th, 2009 at 08:05 AM.

January 13th, 2009, 09:18 AM	#14
stevejones Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 110 Likes (Received): 0	Photos posted below Last edited by stevejones; January 14th, 2009 at 08:36 AM.

January 14th, 2009, 08:34 AM	#17
stevejones Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 110 Likes (Received): 0	Photos of Seacliff & treasures of North Otago Seacliff Mental Asylum ruins: image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr Kuriheka Estate, North Otago, original estate of Todd Family, richest family in NZ. Gotta love it ! This estate is filled with World War I memorabillia and is still subsidised by the Todd Family. It is a tourist operation about 100km north of Dunedin image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr More homesteads in beautiful North Otago, old wealthy aristocratic family estates all built in 1800s complete with peasants (the human kind, not to be confused with the bird pheasant). image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr Flourmill in North Otago, Ngapara I think, it still produces flour which is sold in Oamaru image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr local carwrecking yard in Oamaru, they can be picky about historic preservation in Oamaru ! image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr Last edited by stevejones; January 14th, 2009 at 11:47 AM.

January 14th, 2009, 11:21 AM	#18
Davee A Christchurch Son Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Christchurch Posts: 4,618 Likes (Received): 4	Fantatstic Pics Steve - Thanks You could think you are in Scotland with some of those scences. Seacliffe site is just a CRIME! The Todd Family home is just amazing. I'd love to see more pictures of Oamaru. I think it would need it's own thread though. __________________ Christchurch "Fide Condita, Fructu Beata, Spe Fortis" "Founded in Faith, Rich in the Fruits of the Earth and Her Industry, Bold is Her Claim on the Future" The Garden City

January 3rd, 2009, 10:49 AM	#3
Blah Jafa Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Auckland Posts: 508 Likes (Received): 1	Urban planners in the 60s and 70s were total morons and I want to invent a time machine so I can go back and give them a good swift kick in the nuts.

January 4th, 2009, 08:43 AM	#5
Richard7666 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Invercargill Posts: 876 Likes (Received): 3	Maybe in 50 years time we'll look back on ugly 60s/70s office buildings and think they're beautiful examples of old architecture...but I hope not. I can't imagine the people in the 60s knocking down buildings from the 1800s/early 1900s thought they were ugly. That would be interesting to know, though, what they thought at the time they commited their aesthetic crimes.

January 4th, 2009, 10:54 AM	#7
KaneD Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 714 Likes (Received): 1	Best building on the outside would surely have been the old Seacliff Lunatic Asylum near Dunedin, at the time, it was the largest building in NZ. Sadly it too has been demolished except for a few out-buildings.

January 5th, 2009, 11:49 AM	#9
stevejones Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 110 Likes (Received): 0	Easily Seacliff Mental Hospital. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seacliff_Mental_Hospital I tell my friends about this place and they cannot believe it is in New Zealand. I visited the old ruins of this site last year and it's incredible. Some of the brickwork is still there. It's now called the Truby King reserve. There is still an old sign that says "enchanted forest" which leads down a beautiful garden. My mother who was a psychiatric nurse won't go near Seacliff now because she says it's haunted. It did feel pretty creepy when I visited. It has a beautiful outlook over the sea on a nice day, I'd imagine it could get pretty cold at the site on a bad day. The outlook is also incredible, over the sea with a railway stop on the way. There is now a backpackers called the "asylum" in the old horse stables.

January 9th, 2009, 04:53 AM	#12
stevejones Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 110 Likes (Received): 0	sure there are, I went, i'll post photos of them. It was pretty creepy the day I went, it was so quiet, but some birds were making a horrible noise. Go into the Truby King reserve next to the backpackers. The old foundations are still there along with the brickwork. It must have been incredible. It looks like a few tennis courts now, but it's actually foundations. I'm forever gobsmacked at the thing and when I tell my friends about it, they look at me as if I deserved to be locked up in it because they don't believe it was really there.

January 14th, 2009, 04:38 AM	#16
Brizzy-Mike Registered User Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Brisbane Posts: 933 Likes (Received): 0	NZ is already preserving 1960s-70s brutalism. There was a protection order on the Auckland University Student Centre, a big butt ugly concrete thing.

January 14th, 2009, 11:35 AM	#19
stevejones Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 110 Likes (Received): 0	Alot of those places would send shivers up most NZers spines and most NZers wouldn't know they exist. Seacliff gave me the absolute creeps. North Otago is one of the best parts of NZ. Sir Robert Jones says Waitaki Valley is the best part of NZ. Those old family estates are a dime a dozen in North Otago, they were celebrated war vets or Aristocrats from England and they had a view that NZ was going to be just like home, including the class system. Campbells estate shown as the castle above comes with it's own town for 500 odd peasants. In North Otago in the late 1800's, it was the town vs country with the peasants living in Oamaru and gentry in the country. Some of these houses come with their own deer parks (for shooting deer in or chasing foxes). All the public buildings in Oamaru were paid for by Gentry from the country, so they were beautiful and expensive. All the rest of the buildings in Oamaru are slums for the poor mostly Catholics who were the labour. Beautiful, just beautiful. Outside every estate they planted one Oak tree each peasant killed in World War I. So as you drive down each country road, you can could how many lives were lost from each estate and this is also done in the main rd of Oamaru. Sending the peasants to World War I was a marketing exercise by the elite whose markets for lamb was England. The first shipment of frozen lamb for export in NZ was made in North Otago. Last edited by stevejones; January 14th, 2009 at 11:51 AM.

January 14th, 2009, 12:23 PM	#20
stevejones Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 110 Likes (Received): 0	More North Otago scenery More North Otago scenes: image hosted on flickr And some paintings of North Otago scenery by my father. He's an artist, if you're interested in any of his work get in touch. image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr image hosted on flickr Last edited by stevejones; January 14th, 2009 at 12:37 PM.

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