Forgotten

The Dominion Hotel, Stafford Street, Timaru.

The building was designed by Lusk and Moriarty in 1912. The 1500 square metre building has an Oamaru stone exterior (now painted in a hideous combination of charcoal, and pink) and has an Historic Places Trust historic category rating. The first proprietor of the Dominion was J. REILLY. In recent years it has been used as backpacker accommodation and has also housed an art gallery.

Oamaru stone is a hard, compact limestone, quarried at Weston, near Oamaru, Otago, NZ

This, from The Timaru Herald, 27 February 2010:
The original Dominion Hotel, at the top of Stafford St and close to the Hydro Grand, dates back to the 1870s and has had a colourful history. Many Timaru residents will recall the establishment with affection, and some may remember the knock three times on the rear door policy to gain admission after hours back in the era of six o'clock closing . Threatened with demolition a decade ago, the Dominion has had a new lease of life, being used as an art gallery, backpacker lodge and a youth entertainment.

This building is in dire need of renovation, but sadly, it probably won't happen, as the cost to bring it up to the new earthquake standards would be out of the owner's budget I imagine.

I actually thought it was a vacant building, but I've seen lights on, and it is, in fact, currently operating as a backpackers hostel (unlike it's neighbour across the road, The Hydro Grand).

I think a lot of these character buildings will disappear from the New Zealand landscape over the next few years, because of the huge cost to earthquake strengthen them is just too expensive.

It's sad, because once they're gone, they're gone forever, only to be replaced by something far less grand, or pleasing to the eye, as this old building once was.

To see the Dominion in better days, click here