Government Life building coming down in CBD block

Tuesday, 21 July 2020

Invercargill Central project manager Geoff Cotton talks about Invercagill CBD development

As demolition of the Invercargill CBD block continues, work has already begun to construct the first building on the site.

Invercargill Central is behind a multi-million-dollar project to demolish most of the buildings in the block and redevelop the site which will include retail, office space and car parking.

Invercargill Central project director Geoff Cotton said another six buildings still had to be demolished and that work would be completed in September.

However, piling work for the new Farmers building, which would be the anchor tenant in a new mall on the site, was already underway and Cotton hoped the foundation work would begin within a fortnight.

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Invercargill Central project director Geoff Cotton with the yellow and white Government Life building which is being demolished behind him.

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The Farmers building would be built behind the now demolished [apart from the facade] Southland Times building.

The latest demolition job was being done on the Government Life building, one of the more imposing buildings in the block, on the corner of Esk and Dee streets.

New Zealand Heritage Properties archaeologist Alix Muir outside the Government Life building which is being demolished as part of the Invercargill Central redevelopment.

It would take more than a week to bring it down, Cotton said.

New Zealand Heritage Properties archaeologist Naomi Woods said the Government Life building was in a bad state and ‘’a house for pigeons’’.

But it had a rich history and was in fact two buildings side by side.

The first of the two buildings, recognisable for its arched windows, was built in 1914 for Invercargill drapery business owner William Lewis and called the Lewis and Co building, she said.

The Lewis and Co building was one of the first large scale commercial buildings to be built by the Fletcher brothers, which went on to become Fletcher Building, and it had the Brown Owl tearooms which was New Zealand’s first licensed restaurant.

The second slightly taller building directly beside it, on the corner of Esk and Dee streets, was built in 1929 for Thomas Newburgh.

Woods said Government Life purchased the entire property, consisting of both buildings, in 1952, which was when it started being referred to as one building.

The upper floors of the old buildings had not been used for years, though stores, including a Night n Day dairy, had been on the ground floor until recently.

New Zealand Heritage Properties archaeologist Alix Muir said it was bitter-sweet to see the old buildings being pulled down, but their history would be recorded.