ashburton glassworks.

Hands up if you knew Ashburton had a glassworks!!!!! I didn't. but found it by accident a week or so ago.
Google says-
In 1930 the Southern Cross Glass Company began production from this glassworks building in a spirit of high optimism. With large deposits of the highest quality silica rich sand available from nearby Mt Somers and an estimated potential market for glass products in New Zealand valued at £700,000 a year, a group of business men led by William Tate of Christchurch saw their opportunity to establish a successful secondary industry.Tate had engaged Mr H Schnurpfeil, a Czechoslovakian authority on glass manufacture, as his adviser. Schnurpfeil organised the supply of plant and machinery from Europe and planned how they were to be installed within the handsome brick building designed by local architect E.M. Gabites in 1926. When he arrived in Ashburton in late 1927 to oversee final installation and production Schnurpfeil was joined by a group of skilled English workers with the expertise to operate the plant and instruct locals who would join the firm. All seemed set for this flourishing enterprise to commence. After some delays the factory began operation on 1 March 1930 and almost immediately the special firebricks in the main furnace for the production of plate and sheet glass gave way.
Although production continued with another furnace producing bottles and hollow ware, this incident placed an expensive burden on the seriously under capitalised company. They were not getting the expected orders for the high quality commodities the factory was producing and the effects of the Depression rapidly reduced the size of orders. Within a few months of commencement the factory was 'temporarily' closed and mothballed, pending an economic upturn. Circumstances were never favourable for reopening; the factory was sold in 1947 and, after brief use as a plywood factory, it has been used for grain storage.
The large double brick factory building, stripped of its earlier internal plant and fittings apart from a travelling crane, is little altered in its external appearance. With its high, steeply pitched roof crowned by a tall glazed clerestory, its symmetrically ordered façade, detailed brickwork and flanking 38.4 metre high chimney, the principal section of the building is the dominating feature of the factory complex. It is an outstanding feature in the Ashburton townscape.
I thought it was very interesting, so thought i would share.......