1962: Founders Memorial Theater

November 17, 2023

By AHNZ

Hamilton’s Founders Memorial Theater was opened on 17 November 1962. A huge, expensive, civic and cultural space built by generations prior to the Baby Boomers.

In our own era it would be inconceivable that we should pay our respects to New Zealand’s pioneer founders by memorialising them. The fashion instead is to be ashamed of the ‘stale, pale, males’ who tamed the ground we stand on. Hamilton City even proactively tore out the statue of the man who gave his life for the city to exist because they were afraid of offending some Millennials. Ref. 2020: Historical Report on Hamilton Street and City Names, AHNZ

Public buildings like this are a liability to local governments. A drain on their budget of stolen money. Building them, on the other hand, is a wonderful way for government to launder money and to award over-priced and over-deadline projects to their friends in the construction sector. That is why libraries, pools, halls etc. are frequently being indefinitely shut down and replaced by a new and more expensive version over whatever flimsy pretense the voters are silly enough to believe.

“The demolition of Founders Theatre serves as a lesson on uncontrolled Local Government. A case of conflict of interest. Hamilton City Council spending mega millions on a pile of junk called the Regional Theatre and refusing to allow the Community to save the Founders.” – Friends of Founders Theatre Hamilton N.Z., Facebook (2023)

“The first plans for the theatre—then mooted as a hall—came from a group of Hamilton citizens led by Mr H. H. Innes. They formed the Founders’ of Hamilton Association and set about raising funds. The sum of £25,000 was raised and handed over to the Hamilton City Council, which then took over the project. No loan monies have been resorted to and the project will open debt free. This has been made possible by the use of city council assets.” – Press (1962,) Papers Past

“The theatre doors closed on 1 March 2016, due to health and safety concerns…Further investigation classified the theatre as earthquake-prone, so it will be demolished.” – Wiki

“Hamilton City Council is contributing $25m to building the 1300-seat Waikato Regional Theatre on Victoria St, which is due to open in late 2022.” – D-Day close on future of Hamilton’s Founders Theatre, Herald (October 2020)

“The committee’s decision followed a report estimating more than $41 million was needed to refurbish Founders but TOTI reckons it can do a revamp for around $10 million.” – Stuff (April 2023)

“Founders Theatre will fall victim to bulldozers…The council made the decision last Thursday and with this, declined the proposal by the Theatre of the Impossible Charitable Trust (TOTI) to repurpose the building as a community hub for heritage and culture…Evans said: “The feeling was frustration, disappointment, disbelief… why do they want to do this?”” –Founders Theatre demolition goes ahead as supporters can’t convince council, (June 2023)

The new $80 million regional theatre for Waikato is $2m short…Construction was by-in-large on track, Sharp said, and the building was still due to open next year.” – NZ Herald (September 2023)

Anxiety about earthquake strength in the 2010s was a godsend for bureaucrats whose job it was to brainstorm whatever flimsy pretenses they could to lubricate the urges of politicians. Suddenly scores of perfectly good buildings around New Zealand were decommissioned as “unsafe.” With fake regret, scores of replacement buildings started slowly, expensively, going up in a pay-day for architects, builders, and election campaign financiers. This government cancer struck the Founders’ Theater in July 2016 in a bevy of reports that themselves earned a pay-day for various bureaucrats of doom.

Founders will make some contractor wealthy smashing it to rubble soon; Hamilton City is already building its replacement. Of course the name ‘Founders’ will be dropped for the new ‘Waikato Regional Theater’ and it’s a wonder nobody invented a Maori word for ‘theater’ to woke up the new name even more!

—
Image ref. Hamilton City Libraries. Coloured by AHNZ (2023)

Like    Comment     Share