- Joined
- May 28, 2015
- Messages
- 664
- Reaction score
- 500
- Points
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History
Palmerston North Police Station, originally one of four stations in the city, was completed in 1938 at a cost of £30,000, and operated up until 2005. The existing building was built on the site of the former wooden Victorian era police station and, in keeping up with modernist ideas and technologies sweeping across the county at the time, its design included seismic resistant concrete. Respectable structural engineers from California, Japan and New Zealand worked in partnership to implement and advance the use of reinforced concrete throughout its construction. The building is also based on a stripped classical style, which restricts the use of classical design elements (i.e. columns, decorations and pediments), and much of the exterior is plastered over to exhibit imitation stone joints. At the time, Palmerston North was considered to be an exemplary example of a modern police station in the southern hemisphere, and it attracted much attention from the Australian State Police who requested the site’s plans to assist in the construction of their own stations across the Tasman. It was reported that the police station stood to represent efficiency and subsequently a large number of cells, most equip with a toilet and some with a shower, were incorporated into the building’s design, alongside living quarters and other areas for staff. Interestingly, after the closure of the former Palmerston Police Station crime, between 2006-2010, rose significantly and the overall rate for the city was equal to the rest of New Zealand as a whole; although crime rates have dropped in more recent years.
What began as nothing more than a small clearing in a forest, formerly occupied by indigenous Maori communities, the city of Palmerston North has risen to become one of the fastest growing cities in New Zealand. Since the arrival of British and Scandinavian Europeans, the area has been entirely transformed and as the forests disappeared farmlands and cityscape began to appear.
Our Version of Events
Well folks, it happened, we finally found ourselves holed up in a police station, and an especially grim one at that. Three people or more to most cells, traditional plastic coated foam mattresses, one shared stainless steel toilet (with an incorporated sink on top), a shower if you’re lucky, graffiti from former inmates, and a peep hole for the guards to watch you taking a shit. As we arrived in the city police presence was tremendously high, and as we discovered the new police station is only a few hundred metres down the road. Nevertheless, we managed to amble on inside and the explore was excellent. Although it’s mostly stripped, many of the original features survive and you get a good feel for what it would be like being a ‘bad-guy’ in one of the old Robocop films. The graffiti inside the cells is incredible; a mixture of former gang members’, general ‘bad-guys’' and Maori captives’ thoughts and feelings. There’s a certain sense of satisfaction to be had being able to see police officers walking outside the windows and watching them move about the street when you pop your head over the edge of the rooftop.
Explored with Nillskill and Zort.
1: Palmerston North Police Station
2: Coat of arms
3: Old paperwork
4: Small cell
5: Large cell
6: Peep hole for the guards (opposite the toilet inside the cell)
7: Willy Mitford (research him, there's a good story)
8: Viva La Revolution
9: The other end of a larger cell
10: Stainless steel toilet and sink
11: Corridor to cells
12: Toilet roll and bar of soap (one for each cell, after that you're using your hand)
13: Fume cupboard
14: Examination/evidence sink
15: Steve Irwin
16: Booking room (looking down into the cell blocks)
17: Temporary holding cell
18: Booking room
19: Print room
20: Front of the station (the public side)
21: Map of Palmerston North (inside the chief's office)
22: Main reception (for the innocent folk)
23: Main reception and front door
24: Upstairs (staff area)
25: Staff bar
26: Palmerston North Main Street
27: The new police station
28: Behind the reception booth
29: A very large camera
30: Prisoner drop-off area
Palmerston North Police Station, originally one of four stations in the city, was completed in 1938 at a cost of £30,000, and operated up until 2005. The existing building was built on the site of the former wooden Victorian era police station and, in keeping up with modernist ideas and technologies sweeping across the county at the time, its design included seismic resistant concrete. Respectable structural engineers from California, Japan and New Zealand worked in partnership to implement and advance the use of reinforced concrete throughout its construction. The building is also based on a stripped classical style, which restricts the use of classical design elements (i.e. columns, decorations and pediments), and much of the exterior is plastered over to exhibit imitation stone joints. At the time, Palmerston North was considered to be an exemplary example of a modern police station in the southern hemisphere, and it attracted much attention from the Australian State Police who requested the site’s plans to assist in the construction of their own stations across the Tasman. It was reported that the police station stood to represent efficiency and subsequently a large number of cells, most equip with a toilet and some with a shower, were incorporated into the building’s design, alongside living quarters and other areas for staff. Interestingly, after the closure of the former Palmerston Police Station crime, between 2006-2010, rose significantly and the overall rate for the city was equal to the rest of New Zealand as a whole; although crime rates have dropped in more recent years.
What began as nothing more than a small clearing in a forest, formerly occupied by indigenous Maori communities, the city of Palmerston North has risen to become one of the fastest growing cities in New Zealand. Since the arrival of British and Scandinavian Europeans, the area has been entirely transformed and as the forests disappeared farmlands and cityscape began to appear.
Our Version of Events
Well folks, it happened, we finally found ourselves holed up in a police station, and an especially grim one at that. Three people or more to most cells, traditional plastic coated foam mattresses, one shared stainless steel toilet (with an incorporated sink on top), a shower if you’re lucky, graffiti from former inmates, and a peep hole for the guards to watch you taking a shit. As we arrived in the city police presence was tremendously high, and as we discovered the new police station is only a few hundred metres down the road. Nevertheless, we managed to amble on inside and the explore was excellent. Although it’s mostly stripped, many of the original features survive and you get a good feel for what it would be like being a ‘bad-guy’ in one of the old Robocop films. The graffiti inside the cells is incredible; a mixture of former gang members’, general ‘bad-guys’' and Maori captives’ thoughts and feelings. There’s a certain sense of satisfaction to be had being able to see police officers walking outside the windows and watching them move about the street when you pop your head over the edge of the rooftop.
Explored with Nillskill and Zort.
1: Palmerston North Police Station
2: Coat of arms
3: Old paperwork
4: Small cell
5: Large cell
6: Peep hole for the guards (opposite the toilet inside the cell)
7: Willy Mitford (research him, there's a good story)
8: Viva La Revolution
9: The other end of a larger cell
10: Stainless steel toilet and sink
11: Corridor to cells
12: Toilet roll and bar of soap (one for each cell, after that you're using your hand)
13: Fume cupboard
14: Examination/evidence sink
15: Steve Irwin
16: Booking room (looking down into the cell blocks)
17: Temporary holding cell
18: Booking room
19: Print room
20: Front of the station (the public side)
21: Map of Palmerston North (inside the chief's office)
22: Main reception (for the innocent folk)
23: Main reception and front door
24: Upstairs (staff area)
25: Staff bar
26: Palmerston North Main Street
27: The new police station
28: Behind the reception booth
29: A very large camera
30: Prisoner drop-off area
