Constructed between 1909 and 1967, Petone Memorial Technical College (Former) forms the nucleus of the Wellington Institute of Technology’s (WelTec) Petone campus. The Buick Street brick and iron entrance gates and fencing date from this important local vocational training provider’s earliest developmental phase. The Stripped Classical 1930s Workshop and timber former Classroom (1936) buildings, as well as the later Modernist concrete Workshops (1967), have architectural significance as representative examples of multi-storeyed educational buildings from their respective eras. Petone Memorial Technical College (Former) has historic significance because the trades and applied courses taught there contributed to the area’s prominence as manufacturing centre in the middle decades of the twentieth century. The complex has on-going social significance for the WelTec community because the buildings are key learning and administration spaces important to the delivery of its programmes.
Named after Pito-one pā, Petone was also the site of several other pā and kainga, created over centuries of settlement and migration to and through the Te Whanganui-a-Tara area. Likewise, Europeans were attracted to the harbour and resources, with Petone becoming the site of the New Zealand Company’s first settlement and in the 1870s it began developing into the Wellington region’s industrial hub.
Recognising a local need, and in step with New Zealand’s developing adult education and vocational training sector, in the early twentieth century Petone community leaders banded together to create the Petone Technical School (established 1904). On Petone Borough Council (PCB) land provided for the purpose, the school found its home on the edge of the Recreation Ground, and was soon bounded by fencing and gates that signposted the PBC’s involvement. By the late 1920s demand for the institution’s courses meant it was necessary to purchase adjoining residential sections and develop the campus in the 1930s.
The Workshops, designed by the Public Works Department under Government Architect John Thomas Mair and opened in 1932, displays a robust and austere version of Stripped Classical architecture appropriate to its combined educational and industrial function. It was also Petone’s first steel framed building, reflecting the focus on seismic resilience following a quick succession of destructive earthquakes in the period. Bertie Fleming Kelly designed the sympathetic third floor Workshops addition (1935-36). Kelly’s design for the Classroom building complements the earlier Workshops in style and seismic considerations, but, given its use and prominent position in the campus, is more ornate and celebrates timber throughout. The second Workshops, designed in 1963 by Haughton and Mair (John Lindsay Mair was John Thomas Mair’s son), fronts onto Kensington Avenue and is a distinctive feature in the streetscape, especially because of its characteristically Modern and striking folded roof.
Since the 1960s, the institution has gone from being a centralised provider of trade and technical courses, back to a local institute and then became Hutt Valley Polytechnic in 1987. The 1990s shake-up of the sector eventually led to the re-amalgamation of the polytechnic and the Central Institute of Technology, to create WelTec in 2001. To mark this and recognise the contemporary needs of the institution, the three buildings were altered between 2001 and 2002 to varying degrees. Designgroup Stapleton Elliott undertook interior changes in the 1930s Workshops and former Classroom building to adapt it to administrative use, and an extra floor was incorporated into the 1967 Workshops. The buildings remain integral facilities within the campus which has been under a joint governance structure with Whitireia Community Polytechnic since 2015-16.
The information below is from the CLD assessments which accompanied the nomination form:
Administration Building:
The Administration building known as Block A within the WelTec campus is an impressive wooden building constructed at a time of expansion for the then Hutt Valley Memorial Technical College. Set on the boundary of the Petone Recreation, ground the building has historic, social and architectural significance as the administrative hub of the institution. Designed in the Neo-Georgian style in its symmetry and proportions, the building has served as an office and teaching space for thousands of students attending day and night classes.
The progenitor institution for WelTec was the Petone Technical College which was founded in 1904 by a number of businessmen, politicians and educators that saw the need for the continuing education of young people after leaving primary school. Schools like the one established at Petone were known as technical high schools or colleges, and were a New Zealand innovation.
Classes were offered in a number of make-shift buildings until the first building on the Buick site was erected in 1908. This two storey brick building was to serve the needs of the Technical College for a number of decades but with a burgeoning roll and the institution serving a duel function as a co-educational technical high school during the day and a technical institute by night, a new building was required.
In 1936 the brick building was demolished to make way for the new two storey wooden building designed by the architect Bertie Fleming Kelly (1888-1962) in 1935. Kelly was architect to the Board of Managers of the College in 1935. He was joined in practice by Lindsay Mair, the son of Government Architect John Mair, from the mid-1940s and the firm Kelly and Mair completed a number of alterations and additions to the buildings on the campus. On the 20 April 1936 Peter Fraser, Minister of Education, conducted a ceremony to the lay the foundation stone at the new technical college building. It was the first foundation stone that Peter Fraser laid and he was presented with an ornamental silver trowel by the builder J.H. Meyer.
The building is designed in the neo-Georgian style with a central portico entrance and symmetrical wings and window arrangements on either side of the entry. Constructed in timber with wooden joinery the materials chosen reflected the College Board’s concern over earthquake safely in the wake of the Murchinson and Hawkesbay earthquakes. The building has a low pitched hipped roofline and originally has ceramic roofing tiles that were replaced with a lighter material in 2010.
The building has retained a high level of authenticity in its exterior and interior. A comparable building is the Horowhenua College Main Building in Levin. Designed by Kelly and built in 1938, the building is recorded in the New Zealand Heritage List (List no.4078) and is an authentic example of the Neo-Georgian style; an illustrative example of education architecture on the eve of World War Two and a fine example of Kelly’s work.
Over time the institution developed its curriculum and its functions. These changes have been documented through various name changes that Susan Butterworth describes as an ‘educational chameleon’. These changes have also seen a number of buildings added to the campus and some internal changes to level 1 by the architecture firm Designgroup Stapleton Elliot. The Administration building continues to be used by WelTec for admin and teaching purposes.
Workshops, B Block
The distinctive modernist building that is B Block was designed in 1963 but was completed in 1967. Set between Kensington Avenue and the Petone Recreation ground the workshops building has historic, architectural and social values for its construction at a time of change for the institution, its design that is representative of the Modern Movement and its continued use as a teaching space for WelTec.
The new building was proposed at a time when the institution was going through a major restructure with the movement of some classes and courses to the proposed Heretaunga site and the apprenticeship, trade and local technical classes staying at the Petone. The workshops building was symbolic of this event and “was the first stage in creating a new regional institute.”
The new workshops (B Block) for building and engineering training were designed in 1963 by the firm Haughton and Mair (Robert Haughton and Lindsay Mair). Mair had formally been in practice with Bertie Fleming, who had been architect to the Board of Managers for the College from the 1930s to the 1950s. However, the building was not completed until 1967 due to changes for the school and the establishment of the Central Institute of Technology campus at Heretaunga.
The eye catching zigzag roof line has a series of clerestory windows facing south that emit natural light into the building. The roofline is an “archetypal” design of the Modern Movement and is an interesting blend of the institutional and the industrial. The building is constructed of reinforced concrete slabs and concrete blocks, metal joinery and steel beams. The exterior and interior have designs etched into the concrete to create interest and adds to its playfulness. The exterior the building remains authentic in its design and materials and is representative of the Modern Movement style.
Internal structural changes were made by the architecture firm Designgroup Stapleton Elliot in 2001. The changes involved creating connectivity between the workshop buildings, converting the workshops into classrooms and the insertion of a new floor. Change to the exterior walls was required for the new floor and the incorporation of lower level windows for the ground floor classrooms. This change is in keeping with the “architectural language of the original building by adhering to the set out of the original steel windows.” The work by the architects was awarded the New Zealand Institute of Architects Resene Local Award (Education) in 2002. The adaptive reuse of the building and its setting next to the former workshop building creates a strong presence on the Kensington Avenue site.
Workshops, C Block
The Workshops (Former) building is located on Kensington Avenue and stands as the oldest institutional building on the WelTec campus site in Petone. The building has historic, architectural and social values relating to its construction as purpose-built workshops that would train generations of young people in trade apprenticeships and continue its role in education into the twenty-first century.
The progenitor institution for WelTec was the Petone Technical College which was founded in 1904 by a number of businessmen, politicians and educators that saw the need for the continuing education of young people after leaving primary school. Schools like the one established as Petone were known as technical high schools or colleges, and were a New Zealand innovation. Classes were offered in a number of make-shift buildings until the first building on the Buick site was erected in 1908.
As the curriculum developed and the institution grew, plans for a new workshops building on Kensington Street for the Petone Technical High School were made public in 1930. The new workshop building was badly needed due to an expanding role and the number of technical courses that were being offered, especially those of motor mechanics and cabinet making, which the director of the college at the time described as a “necessity in a community like Petone.” Tenders for the erection of the building were called for in April 1931 and construction began in June of that year. The building was completed at the beginning of 1932 and officially opened on 20 April 1932 by the Governor-General Lord Bledisloe.
The first two storeys of the Workshop Block that fronts Kensington Street were completed in 1932. Designed by the Government Architect’s office under the leadership of John Thomas Mair (1876-1959), the workshops were built by the local firm J.H. Meyer and Co. The building was designed using the more modern construction methods of the time, that of concrete and structural steel rather than brick and timber. Designed in an industrial art-deco style the building makes use of symmetry and a large amount of glazing to make the most of natural light. At the time of its construction on the Kensington Street site is must have been a striking building with its surrounding one storey bungalow neighbours.
The design lent itself to additions and in 1935-1936 a top storey consisting of timber and plastered to match the existing building was erected in. A pitched roof was added to make room for the addition and a single storey building was erected to the rear of the existing building as a workshop for motor engineering. The drawings were by Bertie Fleming Kelly (1888-1962) who was architect to the Board of Managers of the College at the time. He was joined in practice by Lindsay Mair, the son of Government Architect John Mair, from the mid-1940s and the firm Kelly and Mair completed a number of alterations and additions to the buildings on the campus. Another workshop block in the same proportions and style to the Kensington Avenue block as added to the rear and backs onto Petone Recreation ground. It is assumed that this block was designed by Kelly and Mair and was added in the late 1940s or early 50s.
The building has undergone a major structural and seismic upgrade which took place circa 2010. Internal changes have been made to upgrade and modernise the building for teaching purposes and create better access and connectivity with the adjacent building. The original steel framed windows were replaced and a chimney removed. The external appearance of the building remains intact and is a vivid reminder of inter-war institutional architecture and the adaptive reuse of a building for educational purposes.
Named after Pito-one pā, Petone was also the site of several other pā and kainga, created over centuries of settlement and migration to and through the Te Whanganui-a-Tara area. Likewise, Europeans were attracted to the harbour and resources, with Petone becoming the site of the New Zealand Company’s first settlement and in the 1870s it began developing into the Wellington region’s industrial hub.
Recognising a local need, and in step with New Zealand’s developing adult education and vocational training sector, in the early twentieth century Petone community leaders banded together to create the Petone Technical School (established 1904). On Petone Borough Council (PCB) land provided for the purpose, the school found its home on the edge of the Recreation Ground, and was soon bounded by fencing and gates that signposted the PBC’s involvement. By the late 1920s demand for the institution’s courses meant it was necessary to purchase adjoining residential sections and develop the campus in the 1930s.
The Workshops, designed by the Public Works Department under Government Architect John Thomas Mair and opened in 1932, displays a robust and austere version of Stripped Classical architecture appropriate to its combined educational and industrial function. It was also Petone’s first steel framed building, reflecting the focus on seismic resilience following a quick succession of destructive earthquakes in the period. Bertie Fleming Kelly designed the sympathetic third floor Workshops addition (1935-36). Kelly’s design for the Classroom building complements the earlier Workshops in style and seismic considerations, but, given its use and prominent position in the campus, is more ornate and celebrates timber throughout. The second Workshops, designed in 1963 by Haughton and Mair (John Lindsay Mair was John Thomas Mair’s son), fronts onto Kensington Avenue and is a distinctive feature in the streetscape, especially because of its characteristically Modern and striking folded roof.
Since the 1960s, the institution has gone from being a centralised provider of trade and technical courses, back to a local institute and then became Hutt Valley Polytechnic in 1987. The 1990s shake-up of the sector eventually led to the re-amalgamation of the polytechnic and the Central Institute of Technology, to create WelTec in 2001. To mark this and recognise the contemporary needs of the institution, the three buildings were altered between 2001 and 2002 to varying degrees. Designgroup Stapleton Elliott undertook interior changes in the 1930s Workshops and former Classroom building to adapt it to administrative use, and an extra floor was incorporated into the 1967 Workshops. The buildings remain integral facilities within the campus which has been under a joint governance structure with Whitireia Community Polytechnic since 2015-16.
The information below is from the CLD assessments which accompanied the nomination form:
Administration Building:
The Administration building known as Block A within the WelTec campus is an impressive wooden building constructed at a time of expansion for the then Hutt Valley Memorial Technical College. Set on the boundary of the Petone Recreation, ground the building has historic, social and architectural significance as the administrative hub of the institution. Designed in the Neo-Georgian style in its symmetry and proportions, the building has served as an office and teaching space for thousands of students attending day and night classes.
The progenitor institution for WelTec was the Petone Technical College which was founded in 1904 by a number of businessmen, politicians and educators that saw the need for the continuing education of young people after leaving primary school. Schools like the one established at Petone were known as technical high schools or colleges, and were a New Zealand innovation.
Classes were offered in a number of make-shift buildings until the first building on the Buick site was erected in 1908. This two storey brick building was to serve the needs of the Technical College for a number of decades but with a burgeoning roll and the institution serving a duel function as a co-educational technical high school during the day and a technical institute by night, a new building was required.
In 1936 the brick building was demolished to make way for the new two storey wooden building designed by the architect Bertie Fleming Kelly (1888-1962) in 1935. Kelly was architect to the Board of Managers of the College in 1935. He was joined in practice by Lindsay Mair, the son of Government Architect John Mair, from the mid-1940s and the firm Kelly and Mair completed a number of alterations and additions to the buildings on the campus. On the 20 April 1936 Peter Fraser, Minister of Education, conducted a ceremony to the lay the foundation stone at the new technical college building. It was the first foundation stone that Peter Fraser laid and he was presented with an ornamental silver trowel by the builder J.H. Meyer.
The building is designed in the neo-Georgian style with a central portico entrance and symmetrical wings and window arrangements on either side of the entry. Constructed in timber with wooden joinery the materials chosen reflected the College Board’s concern over earthquake safely in the wake of the Murchinson and Hawkesbay earthquakes. The building has a low pitched hipped roofline and originally has ceramic roofing tiles that were replaced with a lighter material in 2010.
The building has retained a high level of authenticity in its exterior and interior. A comparable building is the Horowhenua College Main Building in Levin. Designed by Kelly and built in 1938, the building is recorded in the New Zealand Heritage List (List no.4078) and is an authentic example of the Neo-Georgian style; an illustrative example of education architecture on the eve of World War Two and a fine example of Kelly’s work.
Over time the institution developed its curriculum and its functions. These changes have been documented through various name changes that Susan Butterworth describes as an ‘educational chameleon’. These changes have also seen a number of buildings added to the campus and some internal changes to level 1 by the architecture firm Designgroup Stapleton Elliot. The Administration building continues to be used by WelTec for admin and teaching purposes.
Workshops, B Block
The distinctive modernist building that is B Block was designed in 1963 but was completed in 1967. Set between Kensington Avenue and the Petone Recreation ground the workshops building has historic, architectural and social values for its construction at a time of change for the institution, its design that is representative of the Modern Movement and its continued use as a teaching space for WelTec.
The new building was proposed at a time when the institution was going through a major restructure with the movement of some classes and courses to the proposed Heretaunga site and the apprenticeship, trade and local technical classes staying at the Petone. The workshops building was symbolic of this event and “was the first stage in creating a new regional institute.”
The new workshops (B Block) for building and engineering training were designed in 1963 by the firm Haughton and Mair (Robert Haughton and Lindsay Mair). Mair had formally been in practice with Bertie Fleming, who had been architect to the Board of Managers for the College from the 1930s to the 1950s. However, the building was not completed until 1967 due to changes for the school and the establishment of the Central Institute of Technology campus at Heretaunga.
The eye catching zigzag roof line has a series of clerestory windows facing south that emit natural light into the building. The roofline is an “archetypal” design of the Modern Movement and is an interesting blend of the institutional and the industrial. The building is constructed of reinforced concrete slabs and concrete blocks, metal joinery and steel beams. The exterior and interior have designs etched into the concrete to create interest and adds to its playfulness. The exterior the building remains authentic in its design and materials and is representative of the Modern Movement style.
Internal structural changes were made by the architecture firm Designgroup Stapleton Elliot in 2001. The changes involved creating connectivity between the workshop buildings, converting the workshops into classrooms and the insertion of a new floor. Change to the exterior walls was required for the new floor and the incorporation of lower level windows for the ground floor classrooms. This change is in keeping with the “architectural language of the original building by adhering to the set out of the original steel windows.” The work by the architects was awarded the New Zealand Institute of Architects Resene Local Award (Education) in 2002. The adaptive reuse of the building and its setting next to the former workshop building creates a strong presence on the Kensington Avenue site.
Workshops, C Block
The Workshops (Former) building is located on Kensington Avenue and stands as the oldest institutional building on the WelTec campus site in Petone. The building has historic, architectural and social values relating to its construction as purpose-built workshops that would train generations of young people in trade apprenticeships and continue its role in education into the twenty-first century.
The progenitor institution for WelTec was the Petone Technical College which was founded in 1904 by a number of businessmen, politicians and educators that saw the need for the continuing education of young people after leaving primary school. Schools like the one established as Petone were known as technical high schools or colleges, and were a New Zealand innovation. Classes were offered in a number of make-shift buildings until the first building on the Buick site was erected in 1908.
As the curriculum developed and the institution grew, plans for a new workshops building on Kensington Street for the Petone Technical High School were made public in 1930. The new workshop building was badly needed due to an expanding role and the number of technical courses that were being offered, especially those of motor mechanics and cabinet making, which the director of the college at the time described as a “necessity in a community like Petone.” Tenders for the erection of the building were called for in April 1931 and construction began in June of that year. The building was completed at the beginning of 1932 and officially opened on 20 April 1932 by the Governor-General Lord Bledisloe.
The first two storeys of the Workshop Block that fronts Kensington Street were completed in 1932. Designed by the Government Architect’s office under the leadership of John Thomas Mair (1876-1959), the workshops were built by the local firm J.H. Meyer and Co. The building was designed using the more modern construction methods of the time, that of concrete and structural steel rather than brick and timber. Designed in an industrial art-deco style the building makes use of symmetry and a large amount of glazing to make the most of natural light. At the time of its construction on the Kensington Street site is must have been a striking building with its surrounding one storey bungalow neighbours.
The design lent itself to additions and in 1935-1936 a top storey consisting of timber and plastered to match the existing building was erected in. A pitched roof was added to make room for the addition and a single storey building was erected to the rear of the existing building as a workshop for motor engineering. The drawings were by Bertie Fleming Kelly (1888-1962) who was architect to the Board of Managers of the College at the time. He was joined in practice by Lindsay Mair, the son of Government Architect John Mair, from the mid-1940s and the firm Kelly and Mair completed a number of alterations and additions to the buildings on the campus. Another workshop block in the same proportions and style to the Kensington Avenue block as added to the rear and backs onto Petone Recreation ground. It is assumed that this block was designed by Kelly and Mair and was added in the late 1940s or early 50s.
The building has undergone a major structural and seismic upgrade which took place circa 2010. Internal changes have been made to upgrade and modernise the building for teaching purposes and create better access and connectivity with the adjacent building. The original steel framed windows were replaced and a chimney removed. The external appearance of the building remains intact and is a vivid reminder of inter-war institutional architecture and the adaptive reuse of a building for educational purposes.
