"It would have been nice to see it restored and I believe the new owner went to a lot of effort to restore it and keep it going," Gordon said.
"There were a lot of earthquake requirements and I think he got over them and then for this to happen was very sad."
The Thain's building was so extensively damaged that Whanganui District Council chief executive Kym Fell announced it would be demolished.
It is not the first Meuli building to be demolished; the Majestic Theatre which once stood on the corner of Victoria Ave and Maria Pl had the same fate decades ago.
Although sad to see Thain's being demolished, Gordon and his wife Gay were celebrating a special occasion which provided the family with a great opportunity.
Last weekend the family celebrated Gay's 80th birthday and it offered overseas family members a chance to see the building before it is gone.
Gordon and Gay's son, Nicholas' namesake Nicholas Meuli, flew over from Perth and their daughter Lisa Moloney made the trip down from Auckland.
Gordon said Nicholas and Lisa went into the Whanganui CBD last Saturday to see the Thain's building.
"When Lisa left school, her first job was in there for Dalgety and Company. I took her to various places for interviews and that was the successful one.
"She worked there for a few years and then they moved premises. When Lisa saw the building on the weekend she felt a bit sad."
Nicholas Meuli moved to Whanganui from Switzerland in 1877 and became a building contractor in 1886 after doing carpentry and an unsuccessful gold-mining stint.
Gordon Meuli's father, Nicholas' nephew Otto Meuli, also moved to New Zealand, landing in New Plymouth with his sister and four brothers in 1900.
Most of them were farmers who remained in Taranaki, but Otto was a blacksmith and farrier who settled in Patea, where Gordon was born.
Gordon said there were no other men named Otto in town and growing up there felt a little bit different at times.
"The Swiss had a reputation as being good citizens, but there was a little bit of suspicion against them when World War I broke out," he said.
"They lived on the German border and they were German-speaking you see; however, that was soon forgotten.
"My father went to the first world war. One of Nicholas's boys went to France and lost his life there. They were very loyal and very keen on their adopted country."
Otto came from Nufenen in Switzerland and there is a family book called "Nufenen to New Zealand: 130 years of Meuli family in New Zealand".
Inside are detailed accounts of Meuli family activity and much of that focuses on Nicholas Meuli and his work, such as a Wanganui Chronicle excerpt from 1894.
"His piece de resistance though is manifest in the steamer Wairere," the article reads.
"A month prior to the shell of the steamer arriving bare, plans for all the wood work and cabin fittings were sent to him and from those plans, with no other guide or instruction than the scale, Mr Meuli commenced work, and by the time the Wairere arrived all the fittings were ready to be put in, and strange to say, no discrepancy occurred, each piece fitting into the other..."
"So many members of the family are very fond of the family history," Gordon said.
"I've been over to Switzerland and stayed in the house where my father was born.
"I feel quite proud to be a member of this family."
