Historic court gets mobile for a new life

ORIGINAL: The Masterton Courthouse in 1954.PHOTO/WAIRARAPA CAMERA CLUB

A historic Masterton courthouse has been sliced into three pieces, loaded on to three trucks and driven to a new life as a residential house.

The late-1800s building has been at Te Ore Ore Rd for about 20 years and is being relocated to a property on Morris Rd, where it will be restored and renovated into a home.

Alpha Specialised Movers are doing the move and operations manager Chris Ellis said it was good to see a historical building being moved and utilised.

The two smaller side sections of the courthouse were relocated yesterday afternoon and the larger centre piece is making its move today at 9am.

Mr Ellis said the trip from Te Ore Ore Rd to Morris Rd, which would usually take about four minutes driving, would take about an hour for the old courthouse.

"It's not a long way to go, but it will be about eight metres high so it involves a power [company].

"It's so high going down the road."

Mr Ellis said the usual height of buildings moved were around five metres, lower than powerlines.

"We need assistance of cherry pickers and men on ladders and on top of the building's roof to assist us getting it under the wires.

"Because [the building is] historical, we didn't want to pull it apart and dismantle it to get it down to five metres."

Mr Ellis said this was not the oldest building the company had moved but "it was getting up there" and would probably be one of the oldest ones they had moved in the Masterton district.

"It's good to see there's people out there that still want to see historical buildings preserved."

The courthouse was built in 1883 and was designed by Pierre Burrows, the Government's chief architect at the time, said a report issued by Heritage New Zealand.

Originally standing on Lincoln Rd, which was back then known as Hall St, the building was Masterton's third courthouse and remained in use until 1911 when a new courthouse was built.

It was then used as Government offices by the Ministry of Works and New Zealand Post, until the mid-1990s.

The courthouse is not on the New Zealand Heritage List, but is listed under the District Plan and is recognised for heritage values.

Masterton's first courthouse was built in 1868 and is now used as bed-and-breakfast accommodation near Carterton.