Why is this place significant?

Why is this place Category 1 / Category 2?

St Bathans Hall, built in the early 1890s for local publican Michael Nolan, has served as the public hall in the former gold mining settlement of St Bathans for over a century. It is located on Loop Road, the main street of the former busy gold mining settlement of St Bathans in Central Otago. The Hall is constructed of mud brick and has a simple rectangular plan. It sits within the historic precinct of the small town and contributes significantly to its historic landscape. As well as providing a community meeting place the hall also originally housed the offices of local mining companies. It has had many uses over the years, including a Masonic Lodge, a classroom, a roller skating rink and a cinema, reflecting the diverse entertainments and services provided in small rural towns. It became a government owned building in 1958. In 2006 it continues to be used as a hall, administered by the Department of Conservation. The building is part of the gold mining history of the town. Gold was discovered in St Bathans in 1863 leading to the birth of the town. First known as Dunstan Creek, the name was changed to St Bathans in 1866, after St Bathans in the islands of Iona in Scotland. At the height of the rush, the population in the area numbered around 2,000, with thirteen hotels catering to local demands during the 1860s. The town had two banks, a police station, courthouse, jail, hospital and many businesses. A Tyree photo dated c.1864 shows St Bathans' main street with timber, stone and corrugated iron buildings opening directly onto the footpath. The land on which the Hall stands was first granted to George Purton in 1877. Three years later the title was split into two parts, and that part on which the Hall was to be later built was purchased by the United Mountain and Enterprise Company. There is little information on the early history of the Hall, but it is clear that in 1892 the site was leased to Michael Nolan, Proprietor of the Ballarat (now Vulcan) Hotel for a period of twenty one years. The Hall appears to have been erected around this time. An advertisement from the 1894 Stones Directory of Otago and Southland for the Hotel records, 'Mr Nolan has erected, at considerable cost, a Public Hall suitable for Theatrical and other Entertainments'. The lease was transferred to Nolan's wife Rose Ann on his death. In 1902 the St Bathans' Masonic Lodge was formed in the Hall. The Lodge used the Hall for its regular meetings, until 1909 when they vacated the building, taking up new premises in Becks. The lease was transferred to Ellen Saxton when she took over the lease of the Ballarat Hotel in 1913. The Scandinavian Water Race Company, which mined the rich Kildare Lead from approximately 1904, once had its offices in the rooms at the front of the hall. As mining declined, so did the town, with buildings demolished, facilities diminishing, and the population shrinking; the Hall remains one of the most substantial buildings on the main street. For a period in the 1920s the Hall was used as a temporary classroom. In December 1928 the land titles were transferred to the Kildare Consolidated Gold Mining Company. In August of the following year Mrs O'Dowd, proprietress of the Ballarat Hotel took legal action against the mining company after they locked out both her and her agents from the hall. The company was ordered to take the padlock off the hall door, and to allow it to remain open. Around the 1930s a projection box was installed in the ceiling void over the front offices. In February 1931 the title was transferred to farmer John Morgan, hotelkeeper John Whetter and miner Michael Webb. In June 1958 the land was transferred to Her Majesty the Queen in terms of Section 100(4) of the Reserves and Domains Act and the land title cancelled. In 1974 the Department of Lands and Survey took over management responsibility, and the Hall later became an Otago Goldfields Park site. In 1978 the land and Hall became assets managed by the Department of Conservation. In 1983 the Department of Conservation 'substantially restored' the Hall. In 2003 the Hall was temporarily closed while deformation in the mud brick walls was investigated. Engineering reports indicated that the structure was sound, and the Hall reopened in October 2005. In 2006 the Hall remains an important local facility. It has been used as an assembly point for the 'Ghost to Ghost' multisport event, and local community groups and individual residents remain keenly interested in the future of the building.

The St Bathans Hall sits on the west side of Loop Road in the centre of the small Central Otago settlement of St Bathans. It is immediately adjoining the Vulcan Hotel with the former Gold Office and Post Office located a little further up the street. The main façade opens immediately onto the footpath. The Hall is a simple rectangular-plan single-gable building constructed of mud brick on stone foundations (with a lean-to store to the north-west). The front façade has a central panelled door with arched fanlight over and a decorative lintel. The door is flanked by two symmetrically placed two-light double hung sash windows. The gable end has timber framing as a decorative feature. The windows on the north-west and south-east elevations (the two sides) are all six-light double hung sash windows: there are three on the south-east elevation and five on the north-east, although this wall is partially built against the neighbouring wall of the billiards room of the Vulcan Hotel. The front vestibule has rooms opening on either side that once housed the Scandinavian Water Race Company (as indicated by the sign writing on the entrance), one of the companies that worked the lead where the Blue Lake is now. The former office to the right hand side was converted for a toilet block in 1985. The 2006 Conservation Plan notes that the subfloor bearers and the auditorium flooring has been replaced at an unknown date, likely because of the decay resulting from the timber flooring sitting on the ground. While it has been suggested that the floor was 'sprung' the Conservation Plan considers that the springiness was rather due to 'less-rigid floor support members.' Some of the original stone foundations have been replaced with concrete. The main body of the interior is a large auditorium space with a stage. The interior is largely lined to dado height with varnished match-lining, above which there appears to be a coloured lime wash finish on the plastered mud brick surface. The proscenium arch is timber framed clad on the auditorium side with varnished match-lining. There is a painted fabric mural at the rear of the stage which is considered significant. The hall has been subjected to a number of conservation reports and repairs over past years, due to concern over the building's subsidence and movement and shallow, damp foundations. The exterior has been repointed in a number of places, and the interior replastered. Most recently, in 2004, a new retaining wall was built beside the south wall, and drainage and underpinning of the foundations carried out.

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A fully referenced registration report is available from the NZHPT Otago/Southland Area office Please note that entry on the New Zealand Heritage List/Rarangi Korero identifies only the heritage values of the property concerned, and should not be construed as advice on the state of the property, or as a comment of its soundness or safety, including in regard to earthquake risk, safety in the event of fire, or insanitary conditions.