Historic Significance

Historical Significance or Value The Dunedin Gasworks was the first gasworks in the country to produce gas, opening in 1863. It was owned initially by the Dunedin Gaslight and Coke Company, operating under its manager and engineer, Stephen Stamp Hutchinson. After agitation from the customers, the works were bought by the Dunedin City Corporation in 1876 and have been run as the city gasworks ever since. Hutchinson did build a rival gasworks at Caversham and had a contract to supply Caversham, Mornington, Roslyn and Maori Hill. This contract expired in 1907 and the city took over the Caversham works which have now been demolished. It was on the advice of the gasworks manager, H B Courtis, that a carburetted water-gas plant was bought at the cost of 11,000 pounds in 1899 to supplement the usual production methods. Presumably the building was constructed about 1900 to house this new plant. It was not in existence when a photograph of its site was taken in 1898 and in the newspaper report of 1 April 1903, the water gas plant is described as about two years old. The central part of the building, which was destroyed by the explosion on 31 March 1903, had housed the purifiers and had open archways. The two end rooms were the exhauster room (south end) and the meter room (north end). The explosion threw concrete, bricks, pieces of wood, glass and slates over the gasworks yard and blew out the windows of the houses on Braemar Street immediately behind the purifier. One of the small cottages on Braemar Street was shifted on its foundations.

Physical Significance

Architectural Significance: A early example of this type of industrial brick building in New Zealand. Townscape/landmark significance: This building is well inside the gasworks complex and not visible from the street.