New Zealand - Dunedin

Dunedin



The old, odd Northeast Valley Post Office Building on North Road, now used as a tourist centre for Baldwin Street (see big link at bottom). Why is the rooftop truncated? Why is the Public Counter sign askew? Odd.


A block south from there is old St. David's Presbyterian Church, at the corner of James Street.


This is a rather nondescript building at 39 North Road until you look closer.


Switching ends of the city, these progress northward on Highway 1 (Crawford Street). Buildings date from 1900 to 1906, giving a general idea of when the city was built out.


As Highway 1 curves around the Queen's Gardens, the original Toitu Otago Settlers Museum building (1908) is on the east side. That's a statue of James McAndrew out front, a member of Parliament and a ship owner. That doesn't seem particularly noteworthy, except the Heritage New Zealand government historical agency listed the statue separately from the museum, so it must be somehow.


Built in 1884, the Leviathan Hotel was then aptly named, as it was believed to be the largest hotel in Oceania and Southeast Asia with 150 rooms. Given the general level of tourism development in that part of the world at that time, it probably was. In the first photo, you can see foreshadowing of the Dunedin Prison to the right.


In the short term, this page continues north past a 1910 building (archived as the Fitness Centre Building, so not especially noteworthy, but it's still archived nonetheless) to the 1928 Evening Star (newspaper) Building.


Turning east, the fire station isn't especially noteworthy architecturally, but the details are pretty.


The 1900-1902 Dunedin Law Courts (construction of most buildings took years). This was built on the site of an earlier city gaol and is one of the latest examples of traditional Gothic architecture in Dunedin. (Heritage New Zealand said that this is Gothic and the Railway Station - link at bottom - is Edwardian. They look about the same to me.)


Architectural intricacies abound.


Last, only because of the foreshadowing, is the 1898 Dunedin Prison, right next to the Law Courts for convenience of all. This replaced the earlier gaol on the Law Courts grounds based on the English System, also known as "modern prisons" - separate cells for prisoners, separate gaols based on level of offence. In an example of hindshadowing, you can see the Leviathan Hotel in the background of the third photo.


Architectural details in the order I found them. I'm used to dates being off based on the railway station (just one more half-sentence before that link!), but in this case, the 2-year discrepancy was chiseled in by one of those fine English System prisoners who got the date wrong when making these plaques... I assume for His Majesty (HM) the king, as I can't find any other explanation of HM.

Dunedin Railway Station
Baldwin Street

More Non-Roads along Highway 1

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