PHOTO
Peter Ireland has spent a lot of time in the tiny Methven Roads Board building in Methven.
And he was instrumental in ensuring its protection.
The modest timber Methven Roads Board building, built in 1879, one of the first buildings in Methven, has been put on the New Zealand Heritage List as a Category 2 historic place.
Mr Ireland, a former member of the Methven Caledonian Pipe Band, and past president of the Ashburton branch of the Historic Places Trust, completed the paper work to have the building listed - and he had begun to think it would not happen.
But it has, and he is thrilled.
"This is the final site, and I'm very pleased to have it official. I'd almost began to think it wouldn't happen.''
Mr Ireland, wife Glenda, Angela Grieve, president of the Methven Historical Society, Dan McLaughlin, of the Methven Community Board, Marian Martin, secretary of Historic Places Mid Canterbury, Sonia McAlpine, of the community board, and Kelly Bissett, Ashburton council property adviser, visited the building to mark the listing.
Mr Ireland said he read years ago that the building was to be moved "and I didn't like the sound of it''.
He said he wrote to a daily paper to express his concern and began filling out the forms to see if the building could get heritage protection.
The building was moved - safely and without damage - from its original site, and Mr Ireland was there to see it.
It was shifted in 2000 to give the playcentre play space.
Mr Ireland said the full pipe band practised in the building and said the tiny entranceway was referred to as the "drummers' lounge''.
It is listed as a relatively rare purpose-built stand-alone road building building with a long history of community use.
The building is at 59 Main Street, Methven, or State Highway 77.
It has historical and cultural significance, in reflecting the story of New Zealand's emphasis on building roads since colonial times, and for its varied public use - for meetings, worship, music and recreation.
The building also has aesthetic, architectural, archaeological and social value.
Mount Hutt Road Board was set up in 1879 and tenders were called for an office, cottage and stables in Methven.
The contractor was a Mr Coutts, who completed the office in time for the board to hold its first meeting at the end of 1879.
It is a single-storey wooden building with a gabled corrugated iron roof.
It comprises a main hall, just over 10m long and 5m wide, with a lean-to lobby on its north side.
Inside there is dado panelling over lath and plaster, and on the south wall is a timber fire surround with MHRB markings.
By the time for road board was formed, much of the roading network was established, so a big part of the work was maintenance and gathering rates.
It also served as a polling place, assessment court and general meeting venue.
The Caledonian band practised there and a local rock group, My Dad's Tractor, also used it.
Red Cross Parcels for soldiers in World War Two were prepared there, and the Methven Citizen Committee met there.
It also acted as the Domain Board from 1885 to 1922.
After the road board was disestablished in 1939, the building continued to be used by the community, including by musical groups.
Road boards were some of the first examples of local bodies in New Zealand, but not all boards had their own offices.
Of those built, few survive.
As at May, 2019, the only known purpose-built road board building on the New Zealand Heritage List was the Mount Cook Road Board building at Burkes Pass.
The former Coldstream Road Board office has been relocated twice and is now at the Plains Museum at Tinwald.
The Heritage New Zealand document supporting the listing notes a large cupboard within the building as a chattel.
The building is now Methven's toy library and used twice a week.