Richmond’s original police station on the corner of Oxford St and Wensley Rd has been demolished but parts of it will live to see another day.
The historic 961sqm site used to house the original jail in the garden, which was constructed out of kauri wood in 1860, costing just $80. It was subsequently moved to Washbourn Gardens for preservation a few decades ago.
The police station, a weatherboard villa, was built in 1908 and was sold in 1996 for $140k and turned into three flats. The jail was then used a storage shed.
Norwest Demolition and Recycled Timbers co-owner Cyrill Collier says from the day they arrived on site they had interest from the public about what was going on.
One of those people was local landscaper Geoff Sherlock, who knew a bit about the history of the building and wanted to save what he could from the demolition.
Cyril says part of what makes them different to other demolition companies is that they try to repurpose everything they can.
“We’re not just tearing this thing down because we like tearing things down, but we do have a job to do.”
He says the cost of doing a building like this one up is not something that is financially viable, so the decision was made to pull it down.
They are keeping doors, windows, wiring, copper and as much of the timber as possible.
Last Friday they were taking individual pieces from the roof, which were then transported back to the yard before it is sent away to be repurposed into floorboards.
The original jail amenities block, which until now was still standing on the site, will be heading to a new home at Geoff’s place in McShane Rd.
His plan is to restore it to its former glory, using the same colour scheme and materials that would have originally been built.
It’s not the first historic building that Geoff has transported to his property.
He also has a dental clinic from the 1950s and an art deco garage that was rescued from Halifax St.
Geoff says he doesn’t do it for money, he simply wants to make sure small pieces of the region’s history are saved.
He says the building will take a couple of months of work, doing it bit-by-bit.
“The exterior is largely quite good, we’ll keep the exterior largely how it is, it’ll be more of an internal job.”
He says he’s always had a deep interest in local history.
“Probably from my grandad, he always appreciated history and old things. Where some people might see old things and I see interesting things.”
Geoff was really impressed with how Norwest had the same ethos in terms of retaining as much as they can.
“They’re taking all of that beautiful native timber and repurposing it to service the needs of other older buildings,” Geoff says.
“Back in the day it wasn’t like that, things were smashed, crushed and dumped.”
If you are planning on demolishing an older building that could be relocated, email geoff@sherlocklandscaping.co.nz
