Future of building undecided

Press, 16 June 1983, Page 9

Future of building undecided

Tenders may soon be called for this 81-year-old stone building at Lyttelton which was once a combination fire station and public library. Already some people have approached the building’s owner, the Lyttelton Borough Council, with plans for restoration and development of a craft centre. The council’s finance committee has recommended that the three-storey building, at the corner of Oxford Street and Sumner Road, be put up for tender for restoration or demolition. However, the committee has said preference should be given to tenders for restoration.

This decision was reached after the committee heard that a Christchurch man, Mr J. D. Tupper, was interested in restoring the building and using it as a

craft centre. Mr Tupper suggested that the council could retain ownership and improve the building using Project Employment programme labour, with an engineer acting as consultant.

A Christchurch engineer, Mr J. S. O’Loughlin, is also interested and has told the council be would be prepared to pay $12,000 for the building. The council valuation for the property is $23,000. Mr O’Loughlin’s plans also include preserving the building and converting it into a craft centre, using P.E.P. labour.

Work is needed in the building, if it is to again meet Government safety standards. Those who would like to see the building restored say it is a good example of the old “municipal” or public building style of architecture early this

century. The building’s foundation stone was laid on August 9, 1902, the day of the coronation of King Edward VII.

It was designed as a fire station and what was then known as an atheneum, a literary club. The building had a library, and social and reading rooms, as well as accommodation for the

firemen. The fire engines were kept in the basement. The Fire Brigade moved out in 1962 and after that the council’s electricity department used the basement for some years to store goods. The building was left unoccupied when, after 76 years there, the library shifted to new premises, over the road, in July, 1978.