Jurgens Demolition undertook the delicate task of removing the former Red Shed. Photo / Bevan Conley
Jurgens Demolition undertook the delicate task of removing the former Red Shed. Photo / Bevan Conley
The Red Shed at Whanganui Port has been demolished as preparations begin for redevelopment of No 2 Wharf.
Demolition of the large shed had to be done from the landward side because the wharf sea wall underneath it was too unstable.
What became known as the Red Shed was builtin 1917 by the Wanganui Meat Freezing Company. It was intended for cool storage, at a time when more storage was needed. Its heyday lasted from the early 1920s into the 1940s.
A big building of about 90m by 13m, the shed could house 8000 bales of wool.
Sometime in the 1970s its floor was removed, and after that its walls started to sag, Whanganui District Council projects manager Rosemary Fletcher said.
Before the port project began it was crammed with all kinds of stored items, including machinery, mechanical stencils and port equipment - some worthy of preservation in a museum.
The shed's roof trusses, and any other sound building material, will be kept for reuse.
The interior of the Red Shed, with a former Whanganui tram in the corner. Photo / Bevan Conley
"Any materials able to be recovered will be stored at the port, with the intention of incorporating them into future elements of the port revitalisation," Fletcher said.
