Hokitika Heritage

This is quite a massive building for a small town like Hokitika, which is about 30 minutes from Greymouth. To me it looks a bit foreboding but being a former government building named "Seddon House" it's classed as a category 1 and was completed in the Edwardian Baroque style in 1913. Designed by architect John Campbell it covered the need at the time of a new courthouse and other government departments.

Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward laid the foundation stone in 1908. Construction of the first half of the building was finished in 1909 and plans for the second half were not drawn up until November 1911. The original plans had both a Magistrates Court on the ground floor with a Supreme Court above. However in 1911 the Supreme Court was transferred to Greymouth so the plans were redrawn to contain a boardroom instead. The courtroom was closed in the 1970s due to the restructuring by the then Ministry of Justice. In 2015 it was sold to three Auckland investors and then put back on the market in 2017. In 2020 it was purchased by Heritage New Zealand and is apparently going through some earthquake strengthening to be used the Department of Conservation.

Linking up with Weekend Reflections and the Weekend Roundup.

Auckland Metropolis Museum

In amongt the modern new highrise buildings in Auckland City is this smaller vintage building that is currently for sale (I'd buy it if I had the money). My research found that: "It was designed by English-born architect Charles Towle and erected in the early 1930s as the Church of Christ, Scientist, the building's Graeco-Roman facade has towering columns that frame its impressive entranceway, with three ornate timber doors decorated with leadlight inserts providing access to the expansive foyer. Arched ceilings dominate the former congregational high stud space beyond the foyer and numerous picturesque windows provide a light, airy feel and an ambience many office buildings lack. The building housed congregational and Sunday school services for 70 years until it was sold and converted into office space in 2003. A significant refurbishment was also carried out with care taken to ensure that the building's distinctive character remained intact. Special architectural ...

Family

Photo taken Spring 2024 in Auckland We have been invited to a family reunion in June 2026 which will be held in Auckland so I'm looking forward to catching up with relatives that I haven't seen in over 10 years. This week we have: Had a good chat with a friend who has also adopted a rescue dog - must arrange a play date. I've bought some non alcoholic liqueurs to mix up for mocktails which have been very nice as I don't really drink. We had a massive wind storm 2 days ago, we were ok but a good friend who lives 20 minutes away had a bolt of lightning strike her house, the result was a blown up power box inside and part of her kitchen got burned, she had to call out the fire brigade to put it out. And I have a question for you; when you add your blog post to a blog meme or a blog link up, do you expect the owner of that blog to at least come back and comment on the other blogs that have linked up to it including yours even if it's only occasionally? I actually th...

Hail

Spring is throwing out some strange weather right now. We don't get snow where we live but it is visible on some of the mountains around us over Winter. Last week around 4.30am we had a very loud thunderstorm with hail. It wasn't until an hour or so later my daughter said this is what she saw out on our deck. Clumps of hail all over the deck and on her hand. Apparently various other suburbs around town got it too. Linking up with Through my lens , Tuesday Treasures , My corner of the world , Wordless Wednesday .

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