Unilever Building

An all glass building with classical overtones. Unilever was been in Petone for most of the 20th Century. The building was designed by the Structon Group in the 1980s. Once one of Petone's large employers the Unilever plant was closed in 2014. The Evening Post reported,'Unilever's history in Petone dates back to the early 1900s when Lever Brothers, as the company was known then, made candles from Gear Meat's surplus tallow. In 1919 it bought 10 acres of land and began producing Sunlight and Lifebuoy soaps, and Rinso soap powder. Twenty years later a soap powder drier was built and the company began to refine glycerine, a soap by-product which is used in the pharmaceutical and food industries. In the forties and fifties more land was bought and the first stage of the company's large glass- fronted office block was built. By the seventies the company was manufacturing toothpaste, shampoo and conditioners, and exporting powdered detergents to Australia. The factory produced between 50,000 and 55,000 tonnes of detergent each year at its peak and employed between 550 and 600 staff.'