This building was constructed in 1964 for Taranaki Brewery Ltd. (later bought out by Dominion Breweries) as the Tasman Hotel. The architect was Edward Borrell and the structural engineers, Brodie and Thomson. The contactors were the New Plymouth firm, Riddick Bros & Still Ltd.
In the early 1990s developers Gary Pigott and Cedric Grantham commenced an ambitious project to convert the former hotel into luxury apartments and townhouses. The first part of the project was to transform each floor into a single apartment, with the first one ready to be opened as a show home in March 1992. In August 1993 a 15-tonne steel-framed penthouse was lifted onto the roof of the building. At the time this was reported to be the highest and heaviest lift by the biggest crane in New Zealand.
The next stage of the development saw three townhouses built in the hotel's former carpark with perimeter walls and a security gate installed. The final part of the project, underway in late 1995, involved the construction two apartments on the site of the hotel's former bottle store.
The building featured in the 1995 NPDC CBD Heritage Inventory.
Related documents:
Home by the sea (Daily News 15 August 1991)
The proof is in the apartment (Daily News 27/02/1992)
The ultimate in rooms with a view (Daily News 4 August 1993)
Richmond Estate: An Advertising Feature (Daily News 6 Oct 1993)
Richmond Estate: Final apartments under construction (Daily News 8 December 1995)
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