Old villa on the move

An old Palmerston North house made its way to a new location in the dead of night, taking advantage of the lack of traffic.

The old villa was removed from Church St, near the corner of Victoria Ave, by Central House Movers and hauled off in two pieces during the early hours of yesterday morning.

Over the previous two days a crew cut the house into two 7-metre-wide pieces and dropped the roof so it could safely get under power lines or streetlights on its journey to a lifestyle block south of Masterton, company director Mike O’byrne said.

The crew began shifting the house at 2am so it wouldn’t disrupt traffic on central city streets.

It arrived at its new location on Chester Rd, about halfway between Carterton and Masterton, at 5am, where it will be reassembled over the next 21⁄2 days.

Central House Movers bought the house and its neighbour a couple of months ago, and recently sold it to a woman who was planning to fully restore it.

‘‘Which is great, because otherwise it was going to get demolished,’’ O’byrne said

‘‘It needs a full do over, which is not for everybody, [but] it’s still got good bones.’’

O’byrne said helping save old buildings was one of his favourite parts of the job.

The house was part of a set of three on that corner.

All seemed to have been built at the same time and in the same style, he said.

Judging from the materials, including plenty of native timber, and the design, O’byrne reckoned the houses were about 100 years old.

The house still had its original rimu ceilings, under an iron roof, and the original rimu skirtings and doors.

‘‘With an old villa like that, you can really strip it back to those original fittings and restore it to its former glory.

‘‘It’ll be a real nice house once she’s done.’’