The section on Southland Rd where a mock Tudor-style house once stood is now a demolition site. Photo / Warren Buckland
Paying people to own a mock Tudor-style villa in Hastings wasn’t enough to entice a realistic taker, and now it’s all come tumbling down.
On Friday there was nothing more than rubble to be seen at the site where the two-storey villa on 711 Southland Rd previously stood.
The house, which was built in 1910, previously had heritage status prior to 2013 until it was deregistered due to insufficient information.
Developers TW Property originally said on instruction from the owner that the house could be taken for free, but finding someone to take it had been a challenge.
The company even offered to help by paying people up to $50,000 for the building, which is what it would have cost them to remove the house anyway.
“If we can’t find someone that wants to take it away and reposition it, then it will have to come down,” Simon Tremain, a director of TW Property said in May.
Development on the site would eventually see the property subdivided to create 10 two-bedroom residential units and a shared access area on behalf of the property owner.
At one point in April, Tremain said there were 10 “genuine prospects” for the house.
He was not able to be reached on Friday when called.
Eight hundred and seven signatures were gathered for a petition set up by Hastings local Tony Horrocks to save the unique building.
“I’ve always wanted to see something done with it. It is in a fantastic location, right opposite the raceway. It just seems like a great sort of place [to be used as] a venue or something like that,” he told Hawke’s Bay Today in May.
“We are seeing less and less of these buildings around these days.”
Horrocks told Hawke’s Bay Today on Friday that he was sad to see the building had been demolished.
“It’s just another piece of history that’s disappeared in the way of progress for one - which I’m all for - but the whole idea of trying to save it in the first place was because it was an iconic site that a lot of Hastings residents are very familiar with.
“It’s just another sort of monument that’s disappearing.”
He said he was grateful for those who signed the petition and that it spoke to the nature of New Zealanders who were committed to preserving unique historical buildings.
“It just shows the passion and commitment that a lot of Hastings, Hawke’s Bay and New Zealanders have on the whole.
“I didn’t go out of my way to beat down doors or shout from the rooftops to get support for [the petition], I just asked people if they wanted to lend their voice and was as surprised as anyone when so many people were willing to come forward.”
Horrocks said he wasn’t surprised there weren’t any takers, as it would have still been a significant investment for the new owner.
“They may have been offering to relocate it and cover the moving costs up to $50,000, but with the nature of the building, the size of it, the age of it and trying to relocate we’re talking hundreds and thousands of dollars.”
A spokesperson for Hastings District Council said all information requested from the developer had been provided for resource consent and council was in the process of confirming its decision on the application.
“We would expect a decision to be made on the application within the next two weeks,” the spokesperson said.
Horrocks said he thought it was interesting that resource consent was yet to come through even though the site had been demolished.
“I think the idea behind that was probably because we’ve got the petition in the works, they’ve been trying to move it along as quick as they can to get it through and not have hold-ups.”
He had talked to council about the petition but was only told in the past few weeks that technically they weren’t going to consider the form he had put forward because it was electronic signatures and council required them to be written.
“They told me technically they couldn’t accept it because they required a minimum of 20 handwritten signatures to make it a valid form.”
He acknowledged that council on the whole couldn’t do anything about it and they did say Horrocks could send the form through to them.
“Technically speaking council couldn’t accept it because it didn’t meet their requirements.”
Horrocks said he knew it would be a “long shot” to be able to do anything about the situation but that it was definitely worth putting the effort in.
“Anything is worth trying. Just because you feel like you don’t have much of a chance doesn’t mean you don’t stand up.”
Mitchell Hageman joined Hawke’s Bay Today in late January. From his Napier base, he writes regularly on social issues, arts and culture, and the community.