Tudor Towers

This is the Tudor Towers Heritage Building in the Government Gardens in Rotorua.

From it's opening date in 1908 to the present time it has been a spa Bath House, restaurant, nightclub and now The Rotorua Museum Of Art & History. The latter is much more in keeping with the appearance of the building.

Dr Arthur Stanley Wohlmann, from England, was the visionary for the Rotorua Museum building. He was a Balneologist (a physician who specialises in therapies involving mineral waters). Appointed by the government, his job was to advise on how to improve Rotorua's spa facilities. Within a year of his arrival in 1902 he came up with the design concept for The Bath House building.

This gorgeous building is built in the Elizabethan half-timbered style otherwise called Old English style - native timbers such as Kauri, Rimu, Totara, Matai and split dry Puriri are used throughout. The Elizabethan features are the symmetrical facade (symmetrical now that it is completed) with a north and south wing, there is a lovely large central foyer with high ceilings, a central light-well and a sweeping old grand staircase coming down both sides of the foyer.