Get ready to brace yourself in 2008 because if certain people get
what they want then the 96 year old Hydro Grand Hotel in Timaru New Zealand will fall.
Its demolition will break the wonderful romance it has had with
Caroline Bay in Timaru for the same number of years.
After the Hydro falls you will no longer be able to take photos
of it or admire its beauty from down on the Bay.
The day this old historic building crumbles I wonder how many
South Canterbury people or from anywhere around the world will really care?
It is understood the Hydro is currently owned by a company
called Grand Piazza Limited and the directors are Edward Sullivan
and John McGlashan of the law firm Raymond Sullivan McGlashan.
It is also understood that there are many others in the law firm
that are shareholders of the company but at end of the day it
will be the directors who will go down in history as the men who
made the decision to knock over the finest hotel Timaru ever built.
What was the name of that former Mayor of Timaru who fought
long and hard to keep the Edwardian theme of the City?
Seems attitudes and times have changed with money now coming
before buildings and people.
It is not too late to save the Hydro Grand from the clutches of the property speculators if we could only come up with an idea that would see the Hydro put to better use and benefit the whole community.
Timaru is in desperate need of a new and bigger museum to store its history. The present museum is far to small to display every thing and much of it just sits in a basement.
With this thought in mind I feel confident that if the owners of the Hydro Grand Hotel, the NZ Historic Places Trust and the Timaru District Council got together and with the backing of the South Canterbury public we could build the best looking museum in the country.
Can you visualise the Hydro Grand as a museum sitting alongside a 5 star hotel and conference centre. Can you imagine what that would do to increase visitor numbers to the city centre and how much it would boost our economy.
I’ve started a partition to save the Hydro and I’m confident that Timaru people will respond in kind.
The choice is yours do you want to see modern privately owned hotel apartments on the bay hill or do you want to save the Hydro and make it a better building so that the whole district will benefit and not just a few?
If you are interested in saving this 96 year old Hydro Grand Hotel
then write to me or send me an email.
Save The Hydro
c/ Ron E Bishop
Timaru Tourist Promotions Limited
P.O. Box 313 Timaru New Zealand
ron@timarudirectory.co.nz
