A second Rattray St building appears to be facing demolition, after the Dunedin City Council late yesterday received an application to demolish the N. & E. S. Paterson Ltd building.
That building stands next to, and is understood to share a wall with, the 135-year-old Barrons building, which partially collapsed in January.
That means both now have requests for demolition with the council, and only paperwork appears to be holding back their demise.
On Tuesday, the council was notified the rear wall of the Barrons building had started to bow, and chief building control officer Neil McLeod said he expected to expedite a demolition consent request that had already been filed by the owner.
Two separate sections of the building collapsed on January 12, and parapets fell on to the roof, causing it to collapse inwards on to the second storey.
There have been calls since the collapse for the historic building to be saved, but any hopes appeared dashed after Tuesday's news.
Mr McLeod said then demolition of the Barrons building would go ahead once the owner could confirm the work could be done without affecting neighbouring buildings.
Yesterday, he said he was awaiting engineers' reports on the N. & E. S. Paterson building to justify the need for it to be demolished.
The N. & E.S. Paterson building is owned by the nearby Scenic Hotel Southern Cross.
General manager Nigel Harper said engineers were still checking the building to see how sound it would be if the Barrons building was demolished.
Mr Harper said a final decision would be made when that advice was received.
Barrons building owner Lincoln Darling said he expected to know more about his building this morning.
New Zealand Historic Places Trust Otago-Southland area manager Owen Graham said he understood the N. & E.S. Paterson building was built in the 1940s.
The trust had not done research on the building, but the site on which the building stood was important, having been occupied since the latter part of the 19th century.
