The Church had planned to demolish much of the Mosgiel building - unaware that Heritage Protection would save it.

No to demo

Former leaseholder - Taste Nature owner Clinton Chambers - deserves thanks for the building's last-minute reprieve.

That's because, unknown to the Church, he had applied for it to be given heritage status.

He had nominated the buildings for heritage protection when he applied to the Dunedin City Council for a grant so he could make repairs to its roof.

Chambers was hoping to transform the seminary complex into a holistic health and sustainability centre and community hub.

But his plans came to nothing last month when the Church declined his proposal for the seminary complex's future.

Despite missing out on his business plans, Chambers is welcoming the seminary's likely protection as a "very worthwhile step in the right direction" for a building with "significant heritage value".

Knock it down

Chambers says he didn't know the Church told him it was considering knocking the seminary down until some time after he nominated the building for protection.

"I said what are you going to do with the property? They said that there were a number of options and one of them was demolition."

Just which parts of the building were in the Church's sights for demolition is not clear.

However the Catholic diocese's Dunedin operations manager Paul Olsen said the part of the building known as the Burns Block (chapel, pictured) was a "recognised historic building worthy of heritage protection" and there were no plans to demolish that part.

The new heritage asset

A Dunedin City Council spokesperson said a heritage assessment for the seminary has been completed.

The spokesperson said the building has been proposed for inclusion on its heritage schedule. That schedule will be announced next week under a district plan change.

The seminary includes a commercial kitchen, a dining room, a large chapel, a lecture theatre and accommodation for 100 people.

The council spokesperson said a decision about a heritage grant to repair the building had been deferred until after its status has been reviewed.

Source

• ODT

More than 50 firefighters spent hours trying to save the building on Riccarton Rd after a "significant" fire erupted about 5.20pm on Friday.

Catholic Diocese of Christchurch bishop's pastoral office director Mike Stopforth said the diocese used the building as the national seminary for priests.

Stoppforth told Stuff "the chapel was the most significant part of the hall for the diocese and had significant stained glass windows."

He described the loss as "sad",

Holy Name Seminary was opened in 1947 and closed at the end of 1978.

The seminary was in effect a boys' secondary school for the training of those boys who wished to become priests in later life.

Holy Cross College, the major seminary, became overcrowded in the 50s and it was necessary from 1954 to house the philosophy students elsewhere.

They were sent to Holy Name Seminary, and year by year the school studies diminished and were replaced by philosophy.

During the 1970s the decrease in student numbers raised the question of amalgamating Holy Name Seminary and Holy Cross College.

Holy Name Seminary closed at the end of the 1978 academic year.

The Church continued to run the property as a private hostel for university students. It was known as Campion Hall until 1980.

It was then sold to the Luisetti family. They managed the property as a boarding house and reception venue.

Antonio Hall was bought by Wellstar Co Limited in 1993. Its slow decline into a decrepit condition started then.

Wellstar reportedly had plans to turn the site into motels but nothing came of them.

It remained unoccupied and earthquakes only accelerated damage caused by years of neglect.

A 14-year-old boy has been charged with arson.

• stuff.co.nz
• wikipedia.org
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: antoniohall.org.nz