Been here as long as I remember. The history is:
The Junction Hotel was built for John McKay in the late 1870s and originally contained 34 rooms.
Mr McKay declared bankruptcy not long after the hotel’s opening and in 1885 the property was sold by the Scottish and New Zealand Investment Company to Oamaru hotelkeeper Patrick Corcoran. It was then operated by a succession of licensees.
In June 1904 there was a fire at the hotel, and damage to the building was considerable.
"Any thoughts of reopening the Junction Hotel following the fire would have been dissipated by the imminent and heated debates about prohibition in the town," The Heritage New Zealand website reads.
It was later used as a general store, a vegetable store, a bottle store, a second hand bookshop, a furniture removal firm for storage, and as flats.
But for the past 20 years it had mostly been neglected, despite previous owner Zhang Wei’s intention to restore it to its former glory.
I bought a full set of leather bound books by Hammond Innes here in the 1960's!
Thankful for;
They are still here in our bookcase just waiting for me to take one down and read it again!
A very grand facade....it looks like it’s still lived in thankfully because once a house is abandoned they soon go to ruin. Let’s hope it can perhaps be reopened as a hotel one day....once you let us tourists back in to sit up to the bar & spend money!
@happypat A guy bought it a few years ago and is gradually doing it up. There would have to be major earthquake strengthening if he wanted to open it as a hotel!
Hammond Innes; I'm sure I read many books written by him; can only remember one title 'The Wreck Of The Mary Deare.'