By Roselyn Fauth
It is hard to imagine Timaru without the Landing Service Building. Today it stands as a familiar landmark, the last of its kind in Australasia, yet forty years ago its future was anything but certain. What we now treasure as part of our identity almost became a carpark.
Reading the 1984 article about the Landing Service Building feels like eavesdropping on the very moment Timaru began to shift its attitude to heritage. It was published a year after I was born, and I remember hearing my family and parents friends discussing the plight of the building as a child. I don't remember it being anything else than what it is today, and am grateful to the work that was done by many volunteers to save it and repurpose for us all to enjoy today. The Libraries online archive has a fantastic newspaper record online, and reading through one in particular explained the tension.
On one side was the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, giving the building a B classification for its architectural and historical value. On the other was the Timaru City Council, which owned the site, eyeing development and even demolition... To save our heritage or build new... a debate that seems to always be relevant... so here is my blog, sparked by that article from 40 odd years ago, and how what was written still relevant to us today...
The mayor of the day, Mrs H. D. L. McIver, spoke of compromise, perhaps keeping a façade while removing sections behind. It was a common approach in the 1980s, when economic growth was prioritised and “old buildings” were often seen as obstacles rather than assets. Yet the director of the Historic Places Trust, John Daniels, argued that the Landing Service Building’s value was “irreplaceable,” and that its three arched portals, once used to haul surfboats inside for unloading, told a story found nowhere else in Australasia.
I think this article captures a turning point.
People began to realise that preservation could not simply be left to government bodies or hopeful classification. It needed local advocacy. Out of this recognition grew the Timaru Civic Trust, established in the late 1980s as a voice for heritage and urban character in the city.
I can now see how the Timaru Civic Trust’s origins are tied directly to this battle. The Landing Service Building became its cause célèbre, the rallying point for those who believed Timaru’s identity was bound up with its built history, and that demolishing such a structure would erase part of the town’s soul. The Trust brought together citizens who wanted more than compromise, who believed that heritage had value beyond the economic.
Looking back now, it is easy to see how the seeds of the Civic Trust were sown in that debate. The Historic Places Trust gave classification. The council weighed costs and developments. But it was ordinary people, through the Civic Trust, who carried the torch for preservation.
The Civic Trust still stands today as a guardian of Timaru’s architectural heritage. Its projects, plaques and advocacy all trace back to moments like that council debate in 1984, when the fate of the Landing Service Building was in question. The story reminds me that change often begins not with grand decisions but with local conversations — people arguing, reflecting, and then deciding to take action.
Preservation sought (27 Oct 1984). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 17/09/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/676
Preservation sought
27 October 1984 – Timaru Herald
The landing service building on the former Dalgety site, now owned by the Timaru City Council, has been recognised by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.
The trust has given the building a B classification, which means it merits permanent preservation because of its great historical significance and architectural value.
However, the mayor of Timaru, Mrs H. D. L. McIver, said yesterday that the extent of the building to be preserved would be discussed between the council and the trust.
The council proposes to develop the site and might want to demolish part of the landing building.
Announcing the classification, the director of the trust, Mr John Daniels, of Wellington, said the building had major historical significance to Timaru and the country.
“The landing service operated from the 1860s until 1879 when the harbour came into use and the building shows how the service worked and the original line of the sea front,” he said.
The two-storey stone building is divided by three internal walls. The front, facing the sea, has three arched portals through which landing vessels were drawn up. The internal walls have similar arches so that the boats could be unloaded at different bays.
“The building has been in commercial use for a long time and has been little modified — its historical value is irreplaceable,” Mr Daniels said.
Mrs McIver said the council had been aware that the trust was interested in having the building preserved, but had understood there would be no classification until the council had produced a plan of its intentions for the site.
“We will have to have discussions with the trust to find out how much of the building it envisages being preserved.”
She said a good deal of the building was in a bad state and it was also a very rambling type of building.
“I can see that it could be possible to preserve the facade and maybe one section back and the council is hoping a compromise can be reached.”
Mrs McIver said the council was awaiting a report from consultants on how the site might best be developed.