The Catholic Diocese got the green light to bowl the 1939 convent and hostel in a 2014 Environment Court decision, and a passionate group of locals has been trying to save it since then.

It's only a matter of time before Euphrasie House is progressively demolished, Hamilton Diocese's Graeme Roil said, though a start date hasn't been set yet. Continue reading

Nuns have been in Hamilton East since 1884, says Sister Raewyn Hogan, and four generations of her family have gone through Marian Catholic School and Sacred Heart.

Euphrasie House is now an earthquake risk building is being knocked down - which is sad for the sisters who used to call it home, but necessary for the safety of the girls, said Sister Raewyn Hogan.

"I've always lived on this side of the river. Everybody knows who you are, they know me anyway."

"When you leave a place but you still come back, it's called home. Hamilton East has always been home." Continue reading

The Hamilton East Community Trust (HECT) is fighting to prevent the demolition of the 74 year old building.

The former convent, rebuilt in 1939, used as a boarding house for girls attending Sacred Heart College until it closed in 2011, is currently listed as a "Category B" heritage building.

Euphrasie House was the first three-storey building in Hamilton, and has a distinctive Spanish style, plaster walls and orange roof that set it apart from many other buildings in the city.

The diocese says it cannot afford earthquake strengthening work, and wants to instead build a two-storey diocesan centre on the site.

Mediation has failed and the matter will now go before the Environment Court.

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Flickr