A return and a farewell to this heritage-listed maternity hospital and it’s sprawling arts and crafts 1920’s styled grounds. Demolition machines arrived at the former Maternity Hospital on Nov 30th (2020)- the 1927 building was rubble by the afternoon. Heritage NZ confirmed they had not been aware of the coming demolition and were “saddened to hear” that this important part of New Zealand’s medical and social history had been demolished.
Category: Lower North Island
At The Bottom
In 2014 on a Urbexcentral excursion in the hills- Gunner (as per usual), saw this tower as a challenge rather than an obstacle and couldn’t be talked out of free climbing it. We waited in trepidation at the bottom, as he proceeded to knock the bastard off.
Abandoned Forensic Lab, Lunatic Asylum, North Island, New Zealand
This building was originally the forensic’s unit of an abandoned lunatic asylum which closed for good in 2007.
The decay and mold were immense in this building, the place is falling apart. Nature has began taking over this place and it almost seems like there is more vegetation than structure left.
Throughout its years of operation the asylum has had many accounts of violent patients, patient abuse and treatments used such as electric shock treatment.
Abandoned Art
Located in Wellington is this dilapidated and abandoned former art gallery, before it was an art gallery it was some sort of industrial building that used a crane system, what a unique gallery this would have been. There was a safe and some other old trinkets from the past, that made us wonder of it’s previous uses, we hope you enjoy the shots!
New Zealand’s forgotten miniature village
In a small rural town of North Island New Zealand lives this little forgotten wall and village.
Once a labour of love for the pastor of the church who has now passed on, this little village and its figurines continue to decay without repair or anyone to take care of them.
Marooned
Exploring a century old shipwreck near Wellington recently…
Bridge To Nowhere
October 2013: There was no point in trying to talk Gunner out of surmounting yet another obstacle- an historic abandoned suspension bridge.
Abandoned Doctors Clinic
Hiding down a Wellington side street lies this abandoned doctors clinic, declared ‘earthquake prone’ in 2012, the fate of this building is undecided.
Most things were stripped from this clinic but there was still the odd lamp and drug signs, this was a quick in and out explore, avoiding the sensors for the alarm.
Wellington’s Abandoned Chapel
It has been a long time since urbexcentral visited this beauty, a famous abandoned icon of our city.
While the rest of the buildings fall further into despair the chapel remains mainly untouched, preserved and safe from graffiti for now – let’s hope it stays that way.
The Chapel Interior
The Chapel Interior
The Chapel
Organ
Religious Staircase
Function Room
Function Room
Mirror Image
Outside
Chapel Posing
Waikune Prison Part two
Abandoned since 1986 this derelict prison camp located in a remote area of the North Island in New Zealand barely resembles a prison. The prison is heavily decayed with surprisingly little vandalism and the prisons strange colour schemes were meant to help calm prisoners. Our road trip taking us to this prison began with a sunny 18 degrees, five hours later we were in snow, this place had a very somber feeling to it.
With thanks to WildBoyzUE who joined Urbexcentral for this explore.
Derelict but with a view
There were fireworks in town and we knew the best spot to catch them 🙂
Nature Bites Back
This abandoned gardening centre no longer has house and garden plants for sale- the weeds have taken over…
II Casino
We explored this former Italian restaurant two years ago, just prior to demolition. Remiro Bresolin, a flamboyant pioneer of Italian cuisine in New Zealand and legend of Wellington’s social scene, took drab Wellington and gave it a splash of Italian colour. For nearly 30 years his Il Casino restaurant was a capital icon and a mecca for food lovers everywhere. The restaurant closed just prior to his death in 2007 and in it’s place now stands another inner city apartment block.
Vacancy
This former conference and accommodation complex- closed due to being “earthquake prone”- is still very, very vacant…
Escuela Mala
A re-posted video of Petone College from early 2013. This former high school- abandoned, vandalized and the victim of numerous arson attacks- has finally been euthanized to make way for a retirement village. Escuela Mala loosely translates as “bad school” in Spanish.
Bad Education (redux)
One of our old haunts has finally been demolished. Hutt Valley High School (formerly Petone Technical College) was closed in 1998, but partially used up until 2002. The site had been heavily vandalized over the years and targeted on a number of occasions by arsonists- most recently this past January. This last fire was the nail in the coffin for the former school. The remaining buildings were demolished last month to make way for (ironically) a retirement village.
A Mansion Has Many Rooms
According to local legend, this mansion house was transported to it’s current hilltop location in four sections- sometime in the 1980′s. Allegedly, the farmer who owned the house and property- had intended to renovate the mansion, making it the family home. With spectacular 360 views of the surrounding countryside, it’s obvious as to why. Apparently though, soon after the building was in place- the couple tragically separated and the farmer was left to bring up the children on his own. He could then no longer afford to spend any more time or money on the mansion- and so the house deteriorated and stands as a reminder to this day…
U R B E X C E N T R A L 