Lower Hutt Central Fire Station is a former fire station in

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

, New Zealand. When it was built in 1955 it was considered to be one of the most modern fire stations in the southern hemisphere. The fire station is strongly influenced by the work of architect

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

. It was designed to represent a post war, modern city, with expanding industry and state housing projects. The building along with the

Lower Hutt town hall Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eig ...

, civic administration building and war memorial library saw the city become a symbol of post-war modernist construction during the 1950s. When the station first opened it included such features as a control room where the fire engines could be started and stopped remotely, and the appliance doors could open automatically. It was the first fire station in New Zealand to have the technology to record calls. In the mid-2000s, the New Zealand Fire Service reviewed its coverage of Lower Hutt. On 15 January 2007, the station closed along with fire stations at Petone and

Point Howard Point Howard is a suburb on the eastern side of Wellington Harbour, in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. Geography Point Howard is a headland and bay situated near the swamp land around Waiwhetū and the estuary of Hutt River.Ruakura Consultants, Te A ...

, with crews and engines split between three new stations at Alicetown, Avalon and

Seaview Seaview or Sea View may refer to: Places * Clifton Beach, Karachi, also known as Sea View, a beach in Pakistan * Sea View, Dorset, a suburb in England * Seaview, Isle of Wight, a small village in England * Seaview, Lower Hutt, an industrial suburb ...

. These three career stations are backed up by volunteer brigades at

Stokes Valley Stokes Valley, a major suburb of the city of Lower Hutt in the North Island of New Zealand, lies at the edge of the city, seven kilometres northeast of the city centre. It occupies the valley of a small tributary of the Hutt River, called Sto ...

, Wainuiomata and

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

. Since then, the building has been unoccupied and suffered from vandalism. In 2010 the station was officially protected from demolition by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust (since renamed to Heritage New Zealand). The station was purchased by property developer Mike Friday in November 2015, who is planning to renovate the station into apartments.

References

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Fire stations completed in 1955 Buildings and structures in Lower Hutt Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in the Wellington Region Fire stations in New Zealand 1950s architecture in New Zealand 1955 establishments in New Zealand