Wains Hotel facts for kids
The Wains Hotel is a very old and famous building in Dunedin, New Zealand. It's known for its beautiful design and long history. Even though its name is sometimes spelled differently, it's always been an important part of Dunedin.
Job Wain started his first hotel in Dunedin back in the 1860s. This was a very exciting time because of the Central Otago gold rush, which brought many people to the area. His hotel business did very well. When the bank next door closed, Job Wain bought that building too. He kept buying nearby properties. In 1878, he decided to build a huge new hotel. It cost a lot of money, about £14,000 back then! The famous architects Mason, Wales, & Stevenson designed it. The hotel was built on Princes Street, in an area called The Exchange. This was the main business part of Dunedin, so it was a perfect spot for a big hotel.
What Does Wains Hotel Look Like?
The Wains Hotel building has a special style called Italianate. This means it looks like buildings from the Italian Renaissance. It has a very fancy front, called a façade. You can see many columns, flat columns called pilasters, and carved figures.
Amazing Details of the Building
At the bottom of the building, there are strong columns made of dark stone from Port Chalmers. These columns have fancy tops made of light stone from Kakanui. These columns hold up arches. Above the arches, you can see carved figures of Bacchus (the god of wine), Neptune (the god of the sea), and mermaids. The main entrance has a stone railing at the top, called a balustrade. In the middle of this railing, there's a carved eagle.
The upper floors of the hotel are also very decorated. Inside the hotel, the doors and other fittings were made from dark wood from Tasmania. This wood matched the grand look of the outside of the building.
Wains Hotel Today
The New Zealand Historic Places Trust has given the Wains Hotel building a special rating. It is a Category I historic place. This means it is a building of great importance to New Zealand's history and culture.
As of 2018[update] the building was being updated and fixed up. It was planned to open again as a fancy 50-room hotel. This new hotel would have a restaurant, a bar, a gym, and rooms for meetings.
