The Property.

Bell Hill Apartments at Investment House,
462 Moray Place, Dunedin.

 
c.1879. Te Papa

c.1879. Te Papa

The Site

North facing with a creek running though the lower edge, the site was purchased by early Scottish settler George Mathews.  George built a small wooden house for his family and established a successful plant nursery on the site. Towards the end of the 1800’s the Mathews moved their nursery and sold the land.

 
Copy of original drawings, courtesy Mason & Wales Dunedin

Copy of original drawings, courtesy Mason & Wales Dunedin

Architecture

The original three storey brick building was commissioned in 1899 by Mr John Campbell of Dunedin (note: not John Campbell the Chief Government Architect) and was completed in 1901.  The building was soon occupied by a variety of commercial tenants with the top storey allocated for Church and Gospel purposes.  It has had several owners and many occupiers over the last hundred and twenty years with the current owners, Andrew and Lynn Bosworth, purchasing the building in 2004.

The building was typical of the classical architectural style of commercial buildings across New Zealand in the late 1800’s with its decorative façade, brick structure and wide floors spanned by large timber trusses and beams on columns.

The 2021 redevelopment project architecture and interiors were designed and managed by heritage architect Ian Butcher. The finished project retains the Moray Place heritage façade, has substantially altered the Octagon facing back wall, and cleared the entire interior space on all levels. Care was taken to upcycle as much of the old timbers and fitments as possible, and to carefully restore the ceilings from the original Gospel Hall.  

462 Moray Place offers comfortable modern-day working and living spaces comprising three ground floor commercial tenancies, four first floor apartments and on-site car parking. 

 

Heritage moving forward.

CO2 reduction strategies

We have an evolving and ongoing commitment to reduce CO2 emissions at Bell Hill Apartments

  • Recycled heritage building – ‘the greenest building is one that already exists’

  • Recycled timbers and fitments from original structure repurposed as handrails, benchtops, shelving, doors, steps, skirtings, etc

  • Superinsulation in floors, walls, ceilings reduces heating needs

  • Low E argon-filled double-glazed windows and doors

  • New Zealand wool carpet in all apartments

  • Electricity generated by hydro

  • Opening skylights and sweep fan to provide healthy fresh air movement

  • Direct access to outdoors

  • Bathroom shower and basin soaps by Spire – kiwi made handmade product with no nasties and a recycling program to remake left-over soaps. No plastic bottles.

  • Planet-friendly cleaning products

  • New Zealand design and manufactured lounge furniture and bedding

  • Recycled, repurposed antiques and decoration

  • Onsite domestic recycling service with ShareWaste service to compost green waste

  • Easy access to the walkable & bikeable city.


Cultural engagement