The Old New Timaru Herald building, Bank St

The Timaru Herald began life in Sam Williams’ kitchen in a small cottage on lower George St on June 11th, 1864.  A once weekly edition for the settlers when our then mostly unsettled and only partially developed district was just getting started. This was only a temporary arrangement and the press and cases of type were soon transferred to a building in another part of George St.
Over the course of its history it has moved location several times, spending its longest period, some 99 years, in Sophia Street. Eventually the Herald ran out of space and a new building was needed.
Situated on Bank Street you can see the interesting modern building that became the 6th home for the Timaru Herald.
The brief given to the building designer was that it had to complement the city library while also adding depth and distinctive shape to a conventional existing structure. It was the biggest commercial contract Barrie Walsh Design Ltd had undertaken in the then 7 years he had been in business in Timaru.
The existing structure, the site of a former sock and clothing factory, was a fairly standard two storey, gable ended rectangular building and the designer had to work within the constrictions of the walls, heights and internal fittings. Mr Walsh worked in close consultation with structural engineer, Mr Ralph Littler, and numerous engineering design features were embodied into the distinctive façade they created.
Mr Walsh said that the basic idea for the exterior design came quickly enough but took some time to refine. Originally the tower structures were to be a solid pour of concrete but this method was ruled out and, with the assistance of other local contractors, precast concrete panels were lifted into position by crane on pre-assembled steel frames.
The new $1 million dollar building was opened by PM Rob Muldoon. The Timaru Herald printed a souvenir supplement to celebrate the opening of the new premises on 30th March 1984.
How times have changed in the newspaper business. When the new building was completed it contained floors full of spacious offices for editorial and managerial staff, graphics art and advertising departments, camera suites, fax transmission room, typesetter’s room and a visual display area as well as board room, foyer, lift large circular stairwell, canteen and staff bathrooms. By the late 80s the Herald had two printing presses producing several newspapers for the whole of the South Island. A far cry from its humble beginnings in Sam Williams’s cottage.
However, 28 years after moving into the Bank St building the rapidly changing world of newspaper production meant that the site was far too big and so the Herald was on the move again, to its current leased site on Sophia St.

Karen Rolleston