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A new age has dawned for the Warkworth Hotel.
Murray Holt
Builder Murray Holt is confident the renovated Warkworth Hotel will last more than another 150 years, thanks to extensive strengthening.
“It is much stronger than when it was originally built,” he says.
Nevertheless, the project threw Murray’s team a few curves – mostly the curvature of the walls, which bowed inwards like a banana.
Murray says various alterations over the years meant the floors were uneven and the walls not straight.
Nearly all the interior walls had to be rebuilt, and, despite some compensation to improve aesthetics, the outer walls will always have a degree of curvy character.
The building had been sitting on piles, and when it was lowered on to its new level foundations it was allowed to settle and somewhat flatten itself.
Murray is used to working on older buildings, having worked on houses in his former home suburb of
Epsom in Auckland for most of his career, which began in 1967.
“It was interesting to think back on what the carpenters at the time would have been thinking,” he says.
“I did my apprenticeship with carpenters who learned their trade before the advent of power tools.”
The hotel project required some old techniques be applied to new thinking.
Hand-shaped scribers were used on the weatherboards to make the walls weatherproof.
The skirtings had to be shaped in such a way that cracks will not appear when the timber moves in the cold and heat.
Murray says there is also a forgotten skill to using cramps to lay a floor down. It is a tool that today is not easy to come by.
The walls of the hotel are primarily made from rimu and kauri while the floor is made from kauri and matai. Recycled wood was sourced where needed for the project.
Murray says wood used in older buildings is a much stronger material than wood produced today because it was grown slowly from old, thick native trees.
As a resident of Warkworth for the past 10 years, Murray says it has been a privilege to work on a local icon.
He says a great part about working on the pub is being able to enjoy time in it afterwards, whereas a site would normally be handed over to the owners and forgotten.
Eight of Murray’s crew worked on the renovation, including two apprentices who cut their teeth on the project.
“It couldn’t have been a better learning experience for them,” he says.
Murray wanted to thank the K2interiors project management teams for an enjoyable and successful project, and especially Herb Farrant and Dave Stott. In addition, he thanked sub-contractors Albert Crane, Ulrich Mayer and Mark Dudley.
