Monumental move for red-stickered 100-plus-year-old Gisborne house

A major house moving job for contractors from Gisborne and Hawke's Bay on Tuesday night involved shifting an inner Kaiti home that was red-stickered after Cyclone Gabrielle, to a new location at Muriwai. Photo / Chris Taewa

Gisborne House Movers and their mates from Hawke’s Bay – Brittons House Removers – had a big job on their hands on Tuesday night, shifting a city house red-stickered after Cyclone Gabrielle out to Muriwai.

The more than 100-year-old home was moved from Tukura Rd, in the Gisborne suburb of inner Kaiti.

The 100-plus-year-old house was separated into five sections for the move, the longest of which was 20m long by 10m wide. Photo / Chris Taewa

It was put under threat during the cyclone when a big section of the Waimata riverbank next to it was taken by the floods.

The house has been unoccupied since.

“It was going to be demolished, so it was good to see it rehomed,” Justin Martin from Gisborne House Movers said.

“We separated it out into five pieces to shift it.

“Two pieces of the main body of the house, two roof sections, and the fifth was an additional second-storey section,” Martin said.

The biggest of the five sections moved was 20m long and 10m wide.

"They are always a big challenge, these old buildings, and this one is well over 100 years old," Justin Martin of Gisborne House Movers said. Photo / Chris Taewa

It took the two crews involved in the move about four hours to get the job done.

“They are always a big challenge, these old buildings, and this one is well over 100 years old,” Martin said.

“But we had a really good team on our hands.”

The new owners of the house intend to fully restore the house as work continues out at Muriwai to put the five pieces of it back together. Photo / Chris Taewa

Martin said it took about three weeks to move the house to its new home.

Work continues to reassemble the house.

Martin said the local couple who own the house intend to fully restore it.