Timaru Milling Company Building

1 Mill Street, TIMARU

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This historic place was registered under the Historic Places Act 1980. The following text is the original citation considered by the NZHPT Board at the time of registration. James Bruce built a wooden mill on this site in 1878, but this was burned down in 1881. He began rebuilding immediately, and in September 1882 opened the new mill, which was the first in New Zealand to be equipped with a roller milling plant. It is a substantial rectangular building of brick six stories high built against the railway line. It has many arched windows at each level, and has a pleasing symmetrical appearance. The mill has been in continuous use with little modifications for over a century and the company intends to use it into the foreseeable future. Said to be the largest mill in New Zealand about the turn of the century, it is important as a fine working example of Timaru's milling industry, the largest in New Zealand during the wheat boom of the 1880s. Internal features include a considerable amount of early machinery still in use, the polished wooden floors, and the spiral sack slide which connects all the floors. The slight alterations that have been made have been in keeping with the original style, and are in brick. The integrity of this structure and its significance as the mill that revolutionised the flour milling industry in New Zealand make it an outstanding industrial structure.

Image courtesy of vallance.photography@xtra.co.nz | Francis Vallance | Francis Vallance
Image courtesy of vallance.photography@xtra.co.nz | Francis Vallance | Francis Vallance
J. R. Bruce Mill (Timaru Milling Company Ltd). Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, must be obtained before any re-use of this image. Copyright Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington | Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington

Location

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 1

Access

Private/No Public Access

List Number

239

Date Entered

6th June 1984

Date of Effect

6th June 1984

City/District Council

Timaru District

Region

Canterbury Region

Extent of List Entry

In circa 2001 the three storeyed structure at the complex was demolished. However, the six storeyed structure remains.

Legal description

Lot2 DP18292 Lots 1-2 DP12084 TS 15-17 22 Timaru Town

Location Description

Located on Lot 2 DP 346228 (CT 189996) adjacent to 1 Mill Street, Timaru.

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