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History

History of the Building

Light House Petone is located in the old Labour Hall, off Jackson Street. The hall was built in 1926 and opened by Harry Holland who was the first Labour Member of Parliament. For the next 70 years the hall was used for dances, vaudeville concerts, political meetings and even film shows.

When the hall came on the market we decided that a cinema would be a fitting use for the building. A cinema would preserve the buildings heritage value and restore its purpose as a local entertainment center for the community.

We have tried to restore many aspects of the old building. The facade remains and we have recycled a lot of timber. We think the building retains the history of the site with a contemporary usage.

History of Petone

Petone is a major suburb of the city of Lower Hutt in New Zealand. It is located at the southern end of the narrow triangular plain of the Hutt River, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The name, from the Maori Pito-one, means "end of the beach" or "short beach".

Petone was the first European settlement in the Wellington region and retains many historical buildings and landmarks. The first settlers arrived here in January 1840, on the ship Aurora. After the arrival of a second ship, the Cuba, plans were undertaken for the building of the settlement of Britannia on the site. As it sits in what was once the swamp, the earliest settlers found life hard, and new settlement was abandoned after only a few months. A new site was chosen around the shores of what is now the city of Wellington, New Zealand's capital.