123-year-old Whanganui building where mayor shot blackmailer given Class A heritage status

The Duigan Building on Ridgway St, featuring art representations of D'Arcy Cresswell (centre) and Charles Mackay. Photo / Mike Tweed

A central Whanganui building where the city’s mayor shot his blackmailer 105 years ago has been given the council’s highest level of heritage protection.

Charles Mackay shot poet D’Arcy Cresswell in an office on the second floor of Duigan’s Building (Meteor Printers) on Ridgway St in May 1920, allegedly after Cresswell threatened to reveal his homosexuality.

Mackay was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 15 years of hard labour.

After serving six years, he was released on the condition he left the country.

The building now has Class A rating, up from Class B, following Whanganui District Council’s Plan Change 63-Heritage, which was signed off by elected members this week.

Council heritage adviser Scott Flutey said Class A ratings were given to buildings of national significance.

“If the shooting hadn’t happened there, it would have stayed a Class B,” he said.

The Duigan Building was listed as a Historic Place Category 1 by Heritage New Zealand in May 2023, the first from its Rainbow List Project, which recognises places of significance to New Zealand’s rainbow communities.

“What we value has changed, and the country is more interested in looking at those kinds of stories,” Flutey said.

“That bigger picture has influenced our local scheduling process, which is cool.”

The shooting was not included in the council’s 2009 heritage inventory for the building, but that has now been expanded and updated by Flutey.

He said while the building did not have an “avant-garde design”, it was important in the streetscape.

“They are a finite resource, and this one hasn’t been messed with as much as most of our buildings have.

“It’s special, in a few different ways.”

Whanganui District Council heritage adviser Scott Flutey. Photo / NZME

Paul Diamond, author of Downfall – The Destruction of Charles Mackay, told the Chronicle in 2022 that there had been a “deliberate expunging” of Mackay from Whanganui’s history following the shooting and trial, despite the fact he served ably as mayor on and off for 12 years.

Homosexuality was explained at the time of Mackay’s trial as a nervous disorder, Diamond said.

“His lawyer in the case actually tried to say, ‘look, he’s had a relapse and this made him go temporarily insane and shoot this other man’.

“It’s hard to imagine pre-homosexual law reform when all sex between males was illegal.”

Mackay left Whanganui for London in 1926, before heading to Berlin.

He was shot and killed by a police officer during May Day riots in 1929.

Council wants heritage buildings to ‘stick around’

Flutey said the plan change took two years and was “a massive piece of work for Whanganui”.

It resulted in the retention of two classes (A and B) instead of the previous six.

“Things were very confusing, for owners, applicants and the council itself,” he said.

“The main goal was simplifying and making it clear how you manage these buildings and places.

“In reality, the outcome we want for all of them is mostly the same, for them to stick around and be cared for.”

Demolition of a Class A-listed building is a non-complying activity under the district plan.

Also included in the council’s plan change was the Duncan Pavilion at Castlecliff Beach, which was upgraded from B to A.

The 12-sided hall was built in 1966, with the Duigan’s Building built in 1902.

Flutey said a range of values was used when assessing heritage value, and “age is not necessarily one of them”.

They include historical significance, social significance, architecture, technological and construction significance, and rarity and integrity.

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.