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Revved up
It seems a perfect match – an extensive vintage motorcycle collection housed in a beautifully restored heritage building in the heart of Burt Munro country.
But when the present owners of the former Thomson & Beattie drapery, a Category 2 historic place on Tay Street in Invercargill’s CBD, bought the building, they did so for its beauty, rather than having a specific use in mind for the site.
Joc O’Donnell – the instigator of the building’s new use as a motorcycle museum, along with her husband, Scott – says the couple was impressed with the former drapery’s good bones and beautiful façade. So in 2014 they bought it, as well as what had once been the John Edmonds Building next door at number 25 Tay Street. The Thomson & Beattie building, built in 1881, had later been used as H&J Smith’s Outdoor World (until Outdoor World transferred to the H&J Smith department store’s main premises), and number 25 had more recently been a seedy nightclub and suffered clumsy alterations.
Fortunately the alterations made to the Thomson & Beattie building to suit later uses had not caused great damage. The leadlight windows in the back wall had been covered up with board and the tongue-andgroove panelling and mellow old brick were obscured by modern lining material, but the beautiful lift and the graceful staircase remained, and the spaces were expansive and suited to a museum.
At first it seemed the building would become a home for the display of art and sculpture from Anderson Park, a large art gallery with expansive gardens on the outskirts of the city. However, this plan didn’t eventuate and Scott became interested in the auction of a collection of more than 300 vintage motorcycles in Nelson.
His timing was unfortunate for Joc, who was recovering from an operation and busy caring for unwell family members. She told him he could go to the auction with another work colleague as planned “but he was not to buy anything”. True to his word, Scott did not buy anything at the time – but he did negotiate a three-day option to buy the entire collection. He was persuasive and finally Joc was captured by the potential of the idea and began to see the Thomson & Beattie building as an ideal home for the collection.
WORDS: MARIANNE TREMAINE • IMAGERY: MEGAN GRAHAM
Now home to an impressive collection of vintage motorcycles, a restored Invercargill building is adding to the appeal of the city’s main drag
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With only five months until the collection was due to land, the project to turn the building into a home for the motorcycles was on a tight schedule. The new concept fitted in well with Joc’s position as a director of HW Richardson Group, a flourishing transport business she had managed after the death of her father Bill Richardson. Bill’s involvement with transport had led to the development of Transport World, a museum devoted to the history of transport featuring big trucks and other exhibits.
Both Joc and Scott are eager to see Invercargill gain recognition as New Zealand’s centre for transport history. Both are committed to supporting Southland’s development as a region and Joc served as chair of the Vibrant Urban Centres team as part of the regional development strategy. They could see the potential for a motorcycle museum in Burt Munro’s city, but recognised the challenge of making it happen in such a short time.
Fortunately, a museum qualifies as ‘retail exhibition’ space and is in the same category as ‘retail’ for planning purposes. That meant the museum was not a ‘change of use’ from the drapery and would not, therefore, require extensive modifications other than those needed to meet basic health and safety requirements to get council approval.
Joc says they were lucky with the great team of builders and their painter, who was so committed to the work that he wouldn’t take a holiday. All the tradespeople were proud to help the museum come into being, she says, and determined to meet the targets needed to make it happen.
Sue Hill, the property manager for HWR Property, says at first the primary concern of the project was speed and the plan was just to “slap up gib board and make it tidy”. But once some of the beautiful tongue- and-groove panelling and brickwork were uncovered, the decision was quickly made to restore it.
Despite the challenging deadline and the likelihood of unpleasant surprises, so often part of dealing with an old building, the management team agreed. Most of the building was in reasonable shape, but a lack of structural strength was an issue.
Luckily, when an engineer inspected the building, he mentioned a new product that works like a giant screw, tying brick walls together so that if one wall is without structural support, it is safely tied to the other. Strengthening under the floor was necessary
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too, because of the weight of the motorcycles. The heavier bikes, especially those with sidecars, were placed on the ground floor and the lighter ones on the second floor, which could not bear a heavy load. A café was built at the entrance to the museum in the building next door. Stage one of the restoration was finished by November 2015, in time for the opening and the arrival of the motorcycle collection.
Stage two, which includes earthquake strengthening, has yet to be completed. Plans for earthquake strengthening are being readied for council approval and Heritage New Zealand is being consulted on what to do with the unstable façades, which need to be tied to the rest of the building without compromising the building’s heritage values. Lighting experts are designing a scheme that will recreate the look of the exterior of the original building.
Jonathan Howard, Heritage New Zealand’s Otago/Southland Area Manager, believes the building and the motorcycle collection work well together, inspiring visitors with both the building and the bikes. The project, he says, is a great example of adaptive reuse of a heritage space, and the motorcycle museum is an outstanding amenity for Invercargill that draws people into Tay Street and enlivens the city centre.
People in Invercargill have appreciated the restoration and it is good to have an example like this to inspire others, says Sue, although the cost of the project has been high. Nevertheless, the whole management team recognises that once a commitment is made, there’s no turning back. As Sue says, it’s about giving back to the community and using the opportunity to do the right thing; without buildings like this one in the city, generations to come won’t see this type of architecture again and appreciate the city’s history.
Ultimately, both Joc and Sue say they like the way the atmosphere of the building is in keeping with the ambience of the bikes; each, they say, enhances the other. And not only have the owners either preserved or reused much of the original material in the building, but they’re also conscious of keeping the interior fittings in line with the building’s 1881 birthdate.
As Joc says, owning a heritage building is a completely different proposition from owning a modern office block. With a heritage building there’s a bigger responsibility, a responsibility of care.
1 The museum’s line-up of five Brough Superiors – seen as the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles.
2 The Meccaspresso café’s interior shows the enthusiasm of the building’s owners for recycling material in the renovation – shown here in the floorboards and the panels decorating the counter.
3 The old lift has been preserved and is now in use in the museum.
4 The blue bike on the stand in the Meccaspresso café is a 1937 OK Supreme classic racer.
5 Joc O’Donnell (left) and Sue Hill amidst the motorcycles on display.
6 The sweeping staircase was able to be retained in its original form.
