Time to save Westport’s ‘Eiffel Tower’
Westport resident and historical WRITERCAROLYN Hawesargues that more should be done tomake sure Westport does not lose its magnificent clock tower complex.
Westport’s Clock Tower Chambers are possibly the jewel in the crown of West Coast historic buildings. The building rises as a majestic peak above a range of square-faced shops and commercial buildings. It is to Westport what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris.
However, the Westport District Council is not going to insure the building against earthquakes; it does not feel it is irreplaceable.
The council quickly managed to rid itself of the historic Westport Main School following the Christchurch earthquakes, saving arguments of deterioration, neglect and disinterest.
The late 19th-century school, which later became the War Memorial Community Centre, and in recent times was occupied as a Postie Plus warehouse, raised the standard of architecture above mediocrity.
It has now been rolled out as a car park. It is safe in this form. In the state it was in at the time of its demolition, it would have been savoured in Christchurch.
The Clock Tower Chambers were built after the loss of the Seddon Memorial Clock above the Westport Post Office. The auspicious yet doomed clock tower opened in 1913 was dedicated to premier Richard John Seddon. It gave Westport a look of upward mobility and raised its building standard above a hangover of goldfields architecture.
When the Murchison earthquake struck at 10.17am on June 17, 1929, the Post Office tower was sent crashing into the street. Fortunately nobody was in the vicinity when it fell.
At a council meeting in 1936, mayor Jack Kilkenny put forward a proposal for a new town hall, municipal offices and a clock tower.
Kilkenny was a particularly visionary man and it was in his interests to have a grandiose building next door to Kilkenny Motors, local agents for Ford motor cars. A poll of ratepayers saw the decision to go ahead with the building.
A subcommittee headed by Kilkenny was appointed to consult with architect Archibald MacDonald, whose plans had been accepted by the council.
The building is described as a fine example of its period. Largely art deco, it has classical pilasters and neo-Egyptian foyer columns. Harry Morgan and his sister, who were the owners of the Victoria Theatre in Westport, donated the clock for the building. It was constructed from 1938-40.
Today it presides over a precinct of buildings with historic significance. Across the street is the Carnegie Library, opened in 1905. Almost the full cost of this building was provided for by a grant from Scottish-American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, whose philosophy was ‘‘all rich men are merely trustees for their wealth, which must be distributed for beneficial ends’’. It was the first of 18 Carnegie-financed library buildings completed in New Zealand.
Today the Carnegie Library appears bereft and has lost a certain power of purpose with the removal of its old neighbour the Main School. These two buildings of a similar age put up a united front in the town.
Alongside the Clock Tower building, the West Coast brewery represents an earlier period and the Plunket room has slipped into a bygone era redolent of Plunket nurses, plump babies and perhaps less complicated times.
Westport has a large history and a small population and very little money to put forward for the maintenance and restoration of old buildings, yet it is such facilities, buildings and environment that attract people to live in a town and boost its economy.
Pre-packaged housing is sweeping the country, making old buildings more valuable by the minute.
Humans are moving forward so quickly, current lifestyles and thinking are defunct almost as soon as they are developed. The more that technology advances, the more dehumanised we become and the more essential are the buildings that portray an old form of human life. At least they can be preserved.
There are a few things happening in favour of Westport’s Clock Tower. The Coaltown Museum and the i-Site are being moved into the centre of town, so having other artefacts on display next door could help keep the Clock Tower’s historic status intact.
Perhaps it is poetic justice that the site of the building for the new museum was originally occupied by the garage of Jack Kilkenny, the mayor who strongly advocated for the construction of the Clock Tower Chambers.
On a sunny day in Westport, it is becoming more common to see visitors and tourists photographing the building.
It could hold its head up high among the grand buildings of Europe.