Daily Photo – Roaming the Streets of Port Chalmers

I spent a while roaming the streets of Port Chalmers, doing that aimless but satisfying kind of wandering where you look at buildings you’ve seen a hundred times and suddenly realise you’ve never really looked at them at all. One kept pulling me back like a magnet: the old Bank of New Zealand, sitting proudly on its corner as if still keeping a watchful eye over the wharf. The place has the sort of architecture that quietly announces the port was once a much bigger deal in the Dunedin story, even if the building, like a few of its neighbours, is now well past its glory days.

In more recent times it was owned by Ralph Hotere, who used it as his art studio, which feels wonderfully fitting. If a building with that sort of pedigree isn’t destined to become an art gallery, then honestly, serious questions need to be asked!