Pukekohe Borough Council Chambers (22 Edinburgh Street)

The Borough of Pukekohe was established in 1912, replacing the Pukekohe Town District. Pukekohe existed as an autonomous unit within Franklin County for many years until it became the leading settlement in the new Franklin District Council in 1989. In 2010, the district council was amalgamated into the Auckland supercity. Since then, Pukekohe is now simply considered another suburb.

At first, the borough council met in a room of the public library on Edinburgh Street where it had a provisional office. In 1913, as the borough took over the library and established its official premises there. Although this wasn’t meant as a permanent arrangement, the council ended up staying there for several decades. The idea of combined facilities persisted throughout the decades, with both councillors and residents being in favour of building a new structure to replace the aging facility.

The idea came to fruition only after the building of the War Memorial Town Hall, when the present-day building was erected on an adjacent site once occupied by a private villa. The two buildings are part of a stylistic whole representative of local Modernism. When the council was dissolved in 1989, the building became the home of the Franklin Arts & Cultural Centre and the Franklin Historical Society. The library, meanwhile, had moved into different building in 1976, and its former site became home to the Franklin Bridge Club.

The coat of arms of the Borough of Pukekohe still hangs over the main entrance, although the lettering on the façade has been modified several times along with the changing purpose of the building. Today, the sign above says Plunket, but the building remains a local community centre hosting the Franklin Historical Society and a hireable community room and kitchen.

Continue walking along Wesley Street.