Hall to receive extensive restoration

Otago Daily Times

10-06-2025

Stirling Athenaeum treasurer Kathy Baff is looking forward to a sympathetic facelift for the 114-year-old hall near Balclutha. PHOTO: RICHARD DAVISON
A South Otago hall enjoying a rich social history is receiving some tender loving care.
Stirling Athenaeum, just outside Balclutha, was originally founded in 1882 at a site across from the current hall in Baker St.
Treasurer Kathy Baff, who is helping lead an extensive restoration and upgrade of the community-owned building, said the hall was rebuilt in response to an increase in membership, in 1910.
The building had received several additions and alterations in the intervening years, and now required work to keep it standing for another century and more, she said.
"An athenaeum was a library/reading room/men's club. There are several across South Otago and further afield.
"Originally it had a billiards room, a reading room and a social space. In 1927, women were allowed to join for a yearly subscription of five shillings, men for 10, and it became the social heart of the town for several decades, as well as a hub for other aspects of local life."
She said the hall frontage had contained a store for many years. The main hall, with an unusual double-vaulted roof, served for celebratory functions, regular dances, clubs and other town meetings, as well as retaining its library, which still existed in storage.
"The hall held regular fundraisers to pay off its mortgage and keep it in good order. These were apparently called Bruce Auctions, which seems to be a local phrase meaning a 'bring-and-buy' sale, and were very popular."
She said the hall had some grant funding to spend on refurbishments at present, and was also seeking donations of vintage building materials in keeping with its building style.
"We advertised for wood-framed casement windows recently, and we've had some interest, but if anyone else out there has suitable windows of the right sort of style, we'd love to hear from them."
She said the structure of the hall was essentially sound, although some decayed cladding required replacement, and its toilets and kitchen needed updating.
"Immediately on entering you sense it's a happy building that's meant a lot to people over the years.
"The floor is in amazing condition.
"It could do with a repaint, but it's absolutely a building worth saving, for the community, and for its own sake."