New home for old building
Harry Mowbray looks on nervously as a crane lowers the first section of the historic Ministry of Works building on to a trailer.
The Waikato businessman bought the 116-year-old rimu- and kauri-framed building from the Waitomo District Council for the grand sum of $1.
But he admits it’s going to cost much more to remove it from Queen St in Te Ku¯ iti where it’s sat since its construction in 1908.
‘‘It’ll be moved in five sections,’’ Mowbray explains.
‘‘It’ll be reassembled and undergo some work to ensure it meets regulations, then moved in one piece over to the Matangi Dairy Factory.’’
It’ll feature among other buildings of a similar period Mowbray has bought and collected from around New Zealand to be restored as part of a ‘‘history precinct’’.
He hopes to find a commercial use for the buildings when they’re set up at the historic dairy factory about 12km south of Hamilton.
‘‘The Matangi Dairy Factory is 15 acres [6ha] and has got its own history in terms of being where New Zealand’s two biggest companies [GlaxoSmithKline and Fonterra] had their primary financial roots.
‘‘I want to create a piazza, like in Italy, so the buildings are all looking inwards, to create that community feeling.’’
Glaxo, a predecessor of GlaxoSmithKline, built a factory there between 1917 and 1919 and made milk powder. It went on to become an international pharmaceutical giant.
New Zealand Dairy Association, a legacy company of the Waikato-based New Zealand Dairy Group which evolved into Fonterra, also produced cream and butter on the property.
Mowbray lives in Tamahere and his family runs an organic dairy farm in South Waikato.
He has been developing the dairy factory, a few kilometres from his home, since the mid2000s and has a few small businesses operate from the site.
Of his Te Kuiti acquisition, Mowbray says: ‘‘It was empty, it had pigeons living in it and it was decaying on the top level.
‘‘I talked to the Waitomo District Council which owns the building, they said they didn’t have the money to fix it.’’
On Queen St, a crowd has gathered to watch the building be prepared for removal and Mowbray offers an impromptu presentation to explain where the building is going.
Some know of people who once worked in the building and Mowbray is keen to learn all he can of its history so it can be written and displayed at Matangi.
The building was used as office space by government departments until 1987 when it was gifted to the district council which allowed community groups to use it.
It’s understood the building was protected by the Historic Places Trust schedule but became descheduled when the trust thought it had been demolished.
Mowbray said that opened the door for a renovation project, without schedule restrictions.
‘‘What might it be used for? I’m not sure. But I’m hoping someone might come along and see the building as a commercial opportunity.’’
Mowbray has recently purchased cottages and railway homes in need of rescuing and even has his eyes on a few old railway station buildings.
‘‘There are these most amazing wooden buildings made out of heart timber, from that late 1800s through to early 1900s, that we’re losing around New Zealand. People didn’t build in a clinical way in those days, they were passionate about the build.’’