Formerly Lodge Kilwinning - Bill Hammond Artist

Here stands, after nearly 140 years and many cycles of change, a handsome example of an antipodean Masonic Lodge, which has also served as the home studio of popular artist Bill Hammond.

VIEW PRINTS BY BILL HAMMOND AT NZFINEPRINTS

Though the Masonic Lodge remains a popular society, buildings in New Zealand outstrip the branches now, leaving many of the further flung lodge buildings in New Zealand to decline due to their unsuitable format for conversion to residential or commercial purposes.

This 1881 lodge however, found the right caretaker in Hammond, when it retired from lodge service in 2000. Initially a one storey brick build, it had been extended before after a massive fire in 1903. The rebuild was in brick and timber and managed to stay intact until the Canterbury Earthquakes which shook the artist from the building. Hammond's decade there was productive, and he still resides and works nearby, an absolute fixture in the Lyttelton landscape, though his beloved Lava Bar also bit the dust on the dusty day.

In 2017, a full restoration of the building was mooted and finally in 2019, heritage funds were found to complete the project. The owners are a structural engineering firm who will be housed on the top floor, which has lost little of the Masonic Regalia it was drenched in. The bottom floor will be given over to retail, to complement the small shops taking root again in Canterbury Street and further afield in the regenerating port town.

Image Credit: Google Maps