Heritage Building (Former BNZ)

Gary Russell

The Former BNZ building is easily missed as you drive around the corner on to the Mataura bridge, but it is one of the best original buildings remaining in Mataura. You get a great view of the building from the bridge itself as you drive onto Kana Street. Take the time to pull over and have a look. The following is taken from the Heritage site. This two-storey building was erected in 1893. It was built of brick and has a stucco exterior. The main facade on Kana Street is a tripartite composition of two stories. The corners of the building are treated as shallow piers - rusticated on the top storey, quoined on the ground floor. There is a shallow, projecting entrance porch, with panelled doors and an arched window above. The hipped corrugated-iron roof is marked by a central gable in the form of a triangular pediment; within this pediment, a triangular moulding holds the word "BNZ". The eaves are bracketed. The windows are plain, square-headed, double-sashes. The facade is symmetrical and the bracketed eaves, stucco finish, arched doorway, and triangular pediment, are the features which give the building its plain Italianate feel. The additions on either side of the main facade demonstrate something of the pragmatic provincial character. A brick and roughcast entrance porch has been built onto the former manager's office, while on the other side a stucco Moderne addition has extended the main banking chamber. Neither addition adds anything to the architectural integrity of the original.

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