‘Lovers of the beautiful’

Masonic Hotel Building.

The Masonic Hotel, once Gisborne’s jewel in the Crown, was at mid-20th century a fitting place for the Queen and Prince Philip to catch their breath on a tour of New Zealand and wave to their subjects in Gisborne. Beautiful native timbers, ornate ceilings and decorative pillars were all part of the Masonic story in 1954.

But time and neglect have tarnished the old building and now, in 2022, she squats on the corner of Lowe St and Gladstone Rd, distressed and neglected, watching cars go by, her fate in the hands of the court.

Suffragettes, racehorse owners, a Māori tour promoter, balls, the Queen and Prince Philip, fire scares, evictions, then police stings, drug dealing and allegations of money laundering vibrate faintly through her empty halls, which in August were stormed by police in a training exercise. The hotel has been rebuilt several times, and its dazzling history makes it sadder that it should be left to crumble.

The Queen and Prince Philip had a “Royal Suite” there in 1954 and waved to crowds from the balcony during their whirlwind tour (they were in Gisborne for half a day). But the Masonic was a Gisborne institution long before that. In 1893 Gisborne women celebrated their enfranchisement in front of the hotel — albeit not the same hotel as stands there now — mobilising other women to cast their votes. A board was erected to display ballot results as they came in, and as the night wore on and horses and carriages passed by on the dirt road, people read out the returns by gaslight.

But go back another 20 years to 1870 when the first sections were auctioned, and the site at the corner of Lowe St and Gladstone Rd fetched the highest price of £51.

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In the Poverty Bay Herald of February 3, 1870, proprietor Daniel Page advertised that he had “much satisfaction in announcing that as this LARGE, well built and ELEGANT HOTEL is completed, all Departments are now in full operation . . . the BEDROOMS are numerous, and are larger than is customary. From the Balcony, which commands a view of the whole bay, the lovers of the beautiful may admire the lovely scenery presented by the broad expanse of water and its varied surroundings.”

Those who took up residence there would “FEEL QUITE AT HOME”, and the “best procurable liquors” were available.

Records are wobbly things. Either the hotel was built in record time between the sale of the section in 1870 and Page’s advertisement in February 1870, or someone got their dates mixed up.

Another record lists the splendidly named Stapylton Cotton Caulton, who represented Poverty Bay on the Auckland Provincial Council in 1875-76, as the first licensee of the Masonic in 1874–5.

The Masonic was so named because it had a Masonic lodge room on the

upper floor.

That early version of the Masonic hosted the first race ball in Gisborne in January, 1874, with tickets advertised at one guinea. Raffles apparently were then all the rage, and the “Calcutta Sweep” held in 1879 offered £450 in prizes on the Melbourne Cup.

D Page was at that stage licensee, and he advertised that he had installed a totaliser (the forerunner of the totalisator).

JR Scott is the next recorded licensee, in 1885, and he also acted as an advance agent for a Māori haka troupe that visited Sydney in 1879. He helped promote, and became manager of, the Māori Rugby team that toured the UK in 1888–9, winning 54 of its 74 matches.

The next owner in the old records is Frederick Hall, one of Gisborne’s most enterprising residents and a big property owner in the district. He replaced the old wooden Masonic Hotel with the “present fine structure”. That structure is presumably our current hotel, designed by architects Burr and Mirfield in 1915. Further plans exist, from 1945, by Mitchell & Mitchell (mainly floor plans); and further alteration plans by Mitchell & Mitchell and Partners, from March 1956. Another record refers to Heritage New Zealand listing the current building’s construction from 1928-30, so without researching the hotel exhaustively, the Herald cannot be sure of exact dates, heritage and ownership. Feel free to choose the version of history that suits you best — or complete your own research.

Fred Hall was a larger-than-life character, who when asked if he belonged to Gisborne, reputedly replied, “No, Gisborne belongs to me”.

Merry Roe (one of his string of ponies) was the dam of Duvach, who was the dam of Hiragi, winner of the 1947 Melbourne Cup.

After the Royal visit of the 1950s, and certainly by the 1970s-80s the Masonic was past its best. It closed as a hotel in the late 80s, but still offered a mix of retail and plenty of residential tenancies.

In June 2010 it was advertised for auction and described as “over 5000 square metres of four-storey heritage building that features solid native timber floors and doors and numerous ornate antique ceilings. The building’s majestic imperial-style façade, designed by architects Burr and Mirfield, includes a pair of grand columns and balconies on the Lowe Street frontage and ornate features that make it a fine example of the Imperial architectural style.”

A new roof was fitted around then, but by September 2012 the building was in receivership and listed again for auction. The real estate agent’s advertisement notified that Subway, La Cor hairdressing and Evolution Clothing were renting the ground floor.

“A lift runs to the third floor with stairs from that level to the rooftop area which has a machinery plant room. There is also a basement storage area.”

Tellingly, though, there were “still significant areas within the building which are crying out for redevelopment”. A “home handyman’s dream”, the hotel was in trouble.

The property by then was a Category 2-listed building with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust and a category A historic building under Gisborne District Council’s district plan.

Then in late October 2017 firefighters were called after a small fire started in the timber ceiling of one of the second floor flats where a light fitting burned out. Firefighters had no trouble extinguishing it, but the writing was clearly on the wall.

Gisborne District Council placed a “dangerous building notice” on the former hotel, which was then home to 17 people in six flats. Residents had to be out two days before Christmas.

But worse was emerging. Around the same time as the fire and evictions, Singapore national Thomas Cheng fronted Gisborne District Court for importing and trafficking methamphetamine. He had been arrested in 2016 as part of a police undercover operation.

Cheng had been living in the Masonic, one of six commercial properties in the Gisborne area owned by five corporate entities with which his father William Cheng and Cheng snr’s wife, Nyioh Chew Hong, were associated.

Allegations of money laundering and tax offences have since been made in relation to the Chengs’ businesses.

Thomas Cheng pleaded guilty and was sentenced in February 2018 to 10 years, nine months imprisonment, with a minimum non-parole period of four years, three months.

In 2020, police applied for forfeiture of 15 buildings and bank accounts, reportedly containing $10 million associated with the Chengs, the Masonic among them. The buildings, six of which are in the Gisborne city centre, have been the subject of restraining orders issued by police since 2018.

Heritage New Zealand told the Herald they had no role to play in the building’s maintenance.

Council’s environmental services and protection director Helen Montgomery confirmed the building was listed in the Tairāwhiti Resource Management Plan’s (TRMP) Central Business District Heritage Schedule, but that the council had “no obligation to provide for any maintenance”.

A police spokeswoman recently told the Herald: “In terms of the status of the buildings, restraint will continue pending the forfeiture hearing”.

Police confirmed the Masonic Hotel was restrained under the custody and control of the Official Assignee (OA), the statutory authority involved in taking custody and control of restrained assets.

It has been in that situation by order of the High Court since April 4, 2016, and under the order, maintenance remains the responsibility of the “Respondent” (the owner).

The respondent has appointed a property manager to look after the property, and welfare checks and inspections are conducted by the Official Assignee with consent from the property manager every three months. The most recent was

in August.

In the meantime, the police are authorised to use the premises for training.

Probably for now, don’t hold your breath waiting for major structural inspections, earthquake reinforcement or even a fresh lick of paint.

The best we might hope for is that police bursting through the building’s doors and thundering up the stairs in tactical gear might take heed of its brilliant career.