Whanganui District Council heritage adviser Scott Flutey in front of Heritage House, built in 1912. Photo / Mike Tweed
Whanganui is famous for its heritage buildings, with sites such as Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery, the Durie Hill Tower, and the Whanganui Regional Museum taking pride of place in the city’s landscape.
Mike Tweed, with the help of Whanganui District Council heritage advisor Scott Flutey, looks at some less heralded gems.
Hensons’ Brickworks
Only part of a kiln remains from a factory that once produced bricks, field drain tiles and flower pots.
Located between Whanganui and Upokongaro, Hensons’ Brickworks was built by the Henson brothers, Stephen and Thomas, in 1867.
When it began operations, there was no road to Whanganui, so bricks were taken downstream on a barge.
“We had a big brick-making scene, and there were a few [factories],” Flutey says.
“This is one of the last reminders of a bigger industry.”
The brothers built a steamer, the Pioneer, in 1869, which delivered bricks to Whanganui, towed sailing ships in and out of the Whanganui River and took groups to Upokongaro in the summer months.
Another Whanganui factory, Sedgebrook Brick and Tile Works, was founded by Alfred Emeny and Fred Lampitt in 1900 on Bastia Hill.
It closed in 1951 and became derelict, but from 1986, furniture maker Greg Betts converted the site into Bricksticks, a home, workshop and showroom.
Speaking to the Chronicle in 2024, Archaeology North’s Annetta Sutton said the Wanganui Town Board contracted Hensons’ Brickworks for “thousands of thousands of bricks” in the 1860s, which were used in drainage works.
Hensons’ Brickworks closed around 1877.
Aramoho Tram Shelters
Believe it or not, trams once ruled the streets of Whanganui.
The service began in 1908 and ran until 1950, with 12 trams operating by 1912.
Two tram shelters remain, both built in 1925 on Somme Pde.
Greyhound buses replaced the trams in September 1950, but the shelters remain in use to this day.
Only 170m of active tram track remains, between the Whanganui Tramways shed on Moutoa Quay and the Waimarie wharf, with one tram - ‘Mable’ - running.
In 2023, the Tramways Whanganui Trust proposed four potential extension routes, but plans were scrapped due to costs.
Bishop Lodge Druid’s Hall
Built in 1899, this Bell St building was designed by architect William Pinches, who also designed the former Cosmopolitan Club on the corner of Rutland St and Drews Ave.
Flutey says the Druids were a fraternal order - “a predecessor to insurance, really”.
“For the working classes, there were different fraternal orders you could join, like the Freemasons, the Foresters, and the Odd Fellows.
“If you paid your dues and attended the meetings, they would guarantee payments if you became ill and couldn’t work anymore.
“When you died, they’d give your family money and commit to supporting them.”
The late Bill Milbank, former director of the Sarjeant Gallery, operated WHMilbank Gallery in the building for 15 years, until 2023.
Flutey said there was another Druid’s hall next door, built around 1910, that had been radically remodelled.
“It was quite a big organisation in Whanganui, a big deal.”
Art by the River, another fine arts gallery, now operates out of the building.
London Dental Clinic and Denton Studio
This 1902 building is one of several structures on the former Whanganui Furnishers property running between Victoria Ave and St Hill St.
Flutey says the building now has Class A heritage status, with interior protection.
“I certainly hope it will be a place where more people can come and learn about how Whanganui looked back then.
“It hasn’t changed at all.”
Dentist Woodley Armstrong Prowse ran the London Dental Institute in the building from 1903 until he died in 1941.
Its first floor was a photographic studio from 1902 to 1911, before becoming a tailor’s workroom into the 1940s.
From 1947, the building served as a workroom, storeroom and staff lunchroom for the furnishing company Cuthbertson & Lee, then for Whanganui Furnishers.
In 2024, the council purchased the property from Whanganui Furnishers, although it has yet to announce a new tenant.
Braves Softball Club Rooms
The building was constructed in Castlecliff in 1912, and has had several different uses.
Flutey says it was once “a grand, grand structure”.
“This is a really important example of Whanganui’s Arts and Crafts architecture. A fascinating place.”
It is a Category 2 Historic Place with Heritage NZ, which says it was a beachside tea kiosk for two decades - “an icon of the development of Castlecliff as a popular seaside destination”.
“Its adaptive reuse for a children’s health camp in Gonville, then as a military camp, sanatorium, YMCA and softball clubrooms lends it further historical and social significance.”
Arts and Crafts architecture refers to traditional English cottage-style buildings, with large beams, small-framed windows and hand-crafted fittings.
The Whanganui Softball Association took over the building in 2011.
Te Rangi
Te Rangi was built in 1903 by solicitor Cecil Wray.
Its most notable residents were Anthony and Gita Brooke, who founded the charity Peace Through Unity and moved to Whanganui in 1987.
“The Brookes did a lot in Whanganui, but also internationally, for the peace movement,” Flutey says.
“Most people here know them for the Handspan sculpture [at Pukenamu Queen’s Park], but they did a lot more than that.”
Flutey says the Allison St property was nominated for heritage scheduling by the Peace Through Unity Charitable Trust, and is now a Class B heritage building.
“It’s got architectural, historical and cultural significance, and it’s open for community groups to use. You can go there by arrangement.”
Braeburn Flats
This Arts and Crafts-style property was built on Putiki Drive, next to the Whanganui River, in 1915.
Flutey says it was “the place to be when it opened”.
“It was a private hotel, so a lot of people were coming and going and recuperating. I think soldiers used it in World War II.
“Just recently, the owners [Scott Phillips and Trudy Reeves] discovered a massive coal range concealed behind a wall.
“The secrets there are fascinating.”
Speaking to the Chronicle in 2023, Reeves said that, according to the newspapers left in the range, it had been hidden away since 1963.
“They just threw things in there and boarded it up.”
A studio apartment is available to book at Braeburn through Airbnb, with two more units on the way.
It is a Category 2 Historic Place with Heritage NZ.
Fire Watch Tower/Bell Tower
The tower was built in 1891 on York Hill at Cook Gardens, now the city’s main sports complex.
“It’s one of those things that sits under our nose, and we don’t think much of it, but it’s the only 19th-century fire watch tower left in the country,” Flutey says.
“There is another layer of interest because of the bells, which are not original to that structure.
“They are from the old post office, now the Orange Cafe. The tower of that building was taken down after the Napier Earthquake, and the bells needed to be put somewhere.
“I think that’s what saved it [tower].”
The tower was given Historic Place Category 1 status by Heritage NZ in 2019.
Heritage NZ says within 30 years of the tower’s construction, it was replaced with an electronic alarm system - “a fate that eventually befell all nineteenth-century bell towers and watchtowers in New Zealand”.
“While the structure is no longer used for its original fire protection purpose, the music of the bells is valued by the Whanganui community, and the upkeep of this component has been a focus of fundraising and restoration.”
Duigan’s Building
The second floor of this building on Ridgway St, built in 1902, was the scene of arguably the biggest scandal in the city’s history.
In May 1920, Whanganui mayor Charles Mackay shot and wounded poet D’Arcy Cresswell, allegedly after Cresswell threatened to reveal his homosexuality.
The building was listed as a Historic Place Category 1 in 2023, the first from Heritage NZ’s Rainbow List Project, and this year, the council upgraded it from a Class B scheduled building to Class A.
Flutey told the Chronicle in November that 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.
“What we value has changed, and the country is more interested in looking at those kinds of stories.”
Pillboxes on Castlecliff Beach and South Beach
Twenty-eight pillboxes were built in Whanganui between 1942 and 1944, with 18 in Castlecliff, to defend against the threat of invasion by Japanese forces.
“They are something people feel strongly about, and they want them conserved, but it’s a constant battle against the elements,” Flutey says.
“Some are more accessible than others.
“It’s interesting that at one stage in our history, invasion was a very real threat.”
He says there were also a lot of makeshift bomb shelters in Whanganui during World War II.
“School kids had to dig trenches in lots of parks and reserves, where they were meant to run to.
“There are still a few houses that have bomb shelters, and some are in people’s gardens, but it’s more the basements under big commercial buildings in town.
“It’s still in living memory, just.”
Additional information for this article comes from the Whanganui Heritage Inventory.
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.