The former Montecillo war veterans' home in Dunedin is being demolished to make way for a housing development.
This comes after the Eglinton Rd property - which has been unoccupied for several years - was bought by Morclarke Developments and the Dunedin City Council granted consent for the demolition of the more than century-old building. The 1904 building, which became a home for veterans in 1918, has no protection orders. Morclarke Developments director Lloyd Morshuis said demolition began earlier this week and by yesterday the main part of the building had been knocked over by Nash and Ross Contractors. It would be at least two weeks before the site was cleaned up, he said.
The old building had ''had its day'' and keeping it was not an option, Mr Morshuis said.
The decision to demolish now came as designs for a housing development on the site were being drawn up, with plans for construction to start next year.
''We are working on a design, which is why we want the building down, so we can get a good lay of the land and what trees and bush we want to keep.''
Asked how many houses would be built on the site he said: ''It's 1.3ha, so there is a legal maximum amount of 26, but it certainly won't be that many.''
It was too early to say what style of housing development would be built, but it was not going to be a rest-home development, which was previously reported as a possibility.
The company wanted to preserve some of the site's history by keeping some of the ''absolutely stunning vegetation'' and using ''Montecillo'' in the name of the development.
Throughout the process it had been working with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, carrying out an archaeological assessment of the site.
Nothing of significance had been found so far, but the company would continue to work with the trust throughout development.
It was a ''relief'' to finally get to the demolition stage after problems with vandals and people visiting the site to steal items, including copper, doors and windows, after an article was published in the Otago Daily Times last month, Mr Morshuis said.
Meanwhile, 25 good condition hospital beds had been recovered from the building and Mr Morshuis was keen to offer them to a charity which had a use for them.
Otago Southland Historic Places Trust area manager Owen Graham said the developer was legally required to work with an archaeologist because part of the site was occupied before 1900.
The site was bought in 2004 by Fox and Hammer Investment Ltd, which sold the complex to Morclarke Developments, which took possession last month.
