Concerts line up for rotunda

Concerts line up for rotunda

The rotunda at the old Children’s Health Camp is likely to be hosting public concerts early in the new year.

Performers are queuing up to play in the historic building, says Friends of Ōtaki Rotunda chair Di Buchan. And that’s even though full completion of restoration work is still a year away.

“We have a lot of people who want to be here to perform,” Di says. “It’s a fabulous venue, not just because it’s so historic, but also because it has fantastic acoustics.

“I can’t wait to hear the first performance.”

The Friends was established six years ago to restore the old building, which had fallen into disrepair after the health camp closed in 2018. It became a target for vandals, who smashed windows and doors. A leaking roof damaged the flooring, and given its age, several parts of the wooden building had rotted.

“Our goal was to re-create a beautiful space where the public could enjoy performances and activities of all kinds – music, theatre, dances, school activities – and a venue for meetings, and weddings and other special occasions,” Di says. “We’re not far off being able to open.

“It’s now weatherproof and secure, so we can have events in the evening or at weekends while we carry on with what’s still required.”

Work during the past year has concentrated on replacing a wall, repairing the roof and windows. and removing unsightly rooms that had been added to the rotunda over the years.

Windows and their sashes were restored in the oculus (centre of the rotunda), and heavy steel reinforcing added. Friends volunteers have spent many hours stripping and painting columns, walls and windows with heritage colours revealed under many layers of old paint.

The next big part of the project, which will take most of next year, will be repiling and restoring the matai flooring. Although much of it is still in good order, some will need replacing.

“Fortunately we’ve got plenty of old matai lengths from a Greytown supplier,” says specialist builder Rob Tilbrook of Rare Building. “But what’s under the floor is still a bit of an unknown.

“That includes some of the central piles.”

Meanwhile, volunteer co-ordinator Stewart Fraser recently found the penciled writing of one of the rotunda’s original builders on the back of a wooden panel (see photo).

It read: “This lining was fixed by F W Highfield of Mt St Johns Av, Epsom, Auckland. Nov 23rd, 1915, 2.45pm.”

The Ōtaki rotunda was one of two built for King George V Hospital, Rotorua, in 1915-16.

With the First World War still raging, the octagonal rotundas were built as dormitories for convalescing servicemen. many having served at Gallipoli. They were named Anzac and Suvla, after the coves in the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Both rotundas were moved piece by piece to Ōtaki to become dormitories for New Zealand’s first children’s health camp, which opened in 1932. During the Second World War, with the fear of Japanese bombing in the capital, the rotundas were requisitioned to accommodate patients from Wellington Hospital. Nurses were billeted at the Capitol holiday park.

One of the rotundas was demolished in 1963 after being converted to a recreation hall.

When the last vestiges of the health camp, then run by Stand Children’s Services, closed in 2018, the buildings in the complex became redundant and fell into disrepair.

Seeking to save and restore the historic rotunda, the Friends of the Ōtaki Rotunda was officially established in February 2019. Heritage New Zealand had already listed the rotunda as having category 1 heritage status, protecting its historical significance.

Since 2019, the Friends have secured funding close to $850,000, and scores of volunteers have worked hundreds of hours in working bees. Many open days have also been held, offering the public – and sometimes former boarders at the health camp – an opportunity to learn about the rotunda’s history and to see the restoration work. To date over 600 people have participated in a tour.

Kiwi Can Do, an NGO providing construction industry training, in partnership with Ngā Hapū o Ōtaki currently leases the former health camp complex (excluding the rotunda) from the Department of Conservation. Some of the buildings are rented out to other community organisations and the kitchen areas are used by Te Puna Oranga o Ōtaki to prepare school lunches.