Vogel House
Was somewhat sad to see $47 million being spent on renovating Government House. Not the renovation per se, but the fact it means the Governor-General is going to be a squatter in Vogel House in Lower Hutt.
The Dom Post states that this means Jim Anderton is having to leave it. Well on current polls he was going to be leaving anyway – so the real loser is a National frontbencher who misses out on what is the ultimate state house – much much nicer than Premier House in my opinion.
The Dom Post gets it a bit wrong saying the Deputy PM traditionally lives there. Muldoon lived there as PM. I don’t think Sir Geoffrey ever lived there, and certainly in the 1990s it was Doug Graham, not Don McKinnon who lived there.
The House itself is lovely, with a dining table which seats 20 – designed for Cabinet Dinners. It is surrounded by a huge lawn which is ideal for croquet and even some golf practice.
May 26th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
You wouldn’t fit the current cabinet around that table would you?
May 26th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Muldoon was the first PM to move in there, and liked the place. But Lange loathed it, one reason being it is so incredibly remote from Wellington, way up in Lower Hutt, so Lange got himself a little flat in Hill St by Parliament. Premier House had been the official PM’s house until Savage, who didn’t want to live there, so it was turned into a dental clinicl. In 1990, Michael Bassett turned it into a sesquicentennial restoration project and it became the official residence of the PM again. It is opposite Hill St on Tinakori Rd so is very handy to Parliament.
Vogel House has officially been called the official residence for Deputy PMs, and Anderton moved in there when he was that.
May 26th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
“The House itself is lovely, with a dining table which seats 20 – designed for Cabinet Dinners. It is surrounded by a huge lawn which is ideal for croquet and even some golf practice.”
Civilised pastimes for a civilised age. The current administration would have bondage and discipline sessions on the dining table and environmental protests on the lawn. At least there’s plenty of room for Bradford to develop her spitting skills and for Mallard to have his scuffles among the roses.
May 26th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
DO you have a reference for it being for Deputy PMs? As far as I know it has been used by the Deputy PM for only three years in the last 25.
May 26th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
If I were PM, there would be NO way I’d want to live half way to Upper Hutt.
May 26th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
DO you have a reference for it being for Deputy PMs? As far as I know it has been used by the Deputy PM for only three years in the last 25.
Sure David. Internal Affairs refers to it as so in this. It’s a 2002 statement about Jim Anderton living it it, with the house being the official residence of the deputy PM.
But as far as I know, Anderton has been the only deputy PM to have used it as such, and he stayed on despite not being deputy PM any longer.
As you noted, in the 1990s, Doug Graham lived there.
May 26th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Fortyseven million??? Why not relocate the Indian to Vogel House for good then put the Goverment House property up for sale/
May 26th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Surely we can do a little better than referring to the GG as “the Indian.”
It was a lovely house but very poorly decorated until the Grahams moved in, but that was nothing compared to the superb upgrade of the gardens by Sir Douglas’s wife Bev.
May 26th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Yes but I remember Sir Robert Muldoon decrying the “cottage” garden created by Bev. I think he even said she was mad for pulling out his beloved lilies. But I imagine some remain. The place is a bit of a white elephant and probably should be returned to the Vogel family. But some Minister seems to like living there maybe Bill English would want to one day after the GG has finished with the place.
May 26th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
For that kind of money wouldn’t it be better to tear it down and build something a bit more modern and up to date? And don’t go on about how it is ‘historical’. If it’s in such bad shape that it needs $47 mill to make it right, it is a dump and should be eliminated.
May 26th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Well Julius Vogel sure sounds like a fully paid up member of the screeching sisterhood! (and a Maori appleaser to boot!)
On a more serious note, does any one have a picture of Vogel House, it sounds quite nice but I cant seem to find anything on line?
May 26th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Another shocking example of the extreme socialists squandering MY money on their delusions of grandeur and the Baubles of Office. Scandalous. What real value is there in renovating “our heritage” anyway? It should be sold immediately and the funds put towards a tax cut. Vogel House too.
In fact, while we’re at it why don’t we hock off the Parliament buildings for private development as well, and move the House and the ministerial offices and all the government departments out to the old Todd park complex in Porirua? Imagine the tax cuts that would pay for!
May 26th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
It could become a upmarket brothel filled with whores as being a slut is a career option under helen davis nee clark, govt ,(THERE ARE LOTS OF EMPTY ROOMS) go helen its the govt house fill it with people who most people relate the govt to?.:)
May 26th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
$47 million?? This has to be a joke, doesn’t it? (Quickly checks date, no it’s not April 1st).
I heard it on radio this morning, but I thought they said $4-7 million…..
May 26th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Brothels cost money,heathcote
May 26th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Rob Muldoon drove himself to the Beehive each day in his Ministerial issue self drive car. IMO a PM should NEVER do this, a prang regardless of fault would cause no end of trouble. This is precisely why there are chauffeur driven Ministerial cars as Helen explained to her ministers after Ruth Dyson got pinged for drink drive.
May 26th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
no matter what it is still in Lower Hutt. I feel sorry for any poor prick who lives in that suburban shithole. The GG who is a good guy does not deserve being kicked to Hutt Valley.
Is it true that very close to the election Andterton is going to retire (as he cannot stomach oposition) and he will instead try to annoint that Commie Robson as his successor?
That is why he does not mind giving up the house in shitty Lower Hutt?
May 26th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
There is a charming historic property on the top of Mt Crawford that has room for the lot of them.
May 26th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Peterwn Said:
“Rob Muldoon drove himself to the Beehive each day in his Ministerial issue self drive car. IMO a PM should NEVER do this, a prang regardless of fault would cause no end of trouble.”
Looking at this with Modern Eyes I tend to agree with you however you must remember the time and how innocently naive we as a country were. Personally I have very fond memories of Dave Lange doing exactly the same thing (driving his own vehicle) around Mangere along dropping off my Father at home after work, going to skating lessons with his kids at a public skating rink, and him even having him join us once or twice to have fish and chips.
I don’t know if the Diplomatic Protection Squad were sitting outside somewhere (I doubt it) but either way I doubt these sort of ordinary and mundane events would ever be allowed to happen these days regardless of the actual person in that position.
May 26th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
poneke says:
So when politicians moved back in it went from giving people pricks to housing them?
It is a lovely house, far nicer than Premier House, which always seemed to me like the setting for a Stephen King horror film. As for PMs driving themselves, I recall sitting in the traffic on the Hutt “motorway” fuming at poor planning and Wellington’s laughable roads when I glanced over and saw a bloke with an equally infuriated expression. It was Lange. Knowing that the high and mighty had to put up with it somehow made it easier to bear. Nowadays, of course, the incumbent would whoosh down the emergency lane with a police escort – unaware, naturally, of her speed or our plight.
May 26th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
So it looks like we have had a procession of these wankers who decided that the houses WE provide for them are not to their liking.
No doubt they found somewhere else more to their taste and we paid for that bloody residence to be re decorated etc…
Its about time the bastards were told “this is your place and you will like it or find something yourself at your OWN cost”
May 26th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
I’m concerned that this thread has turned into a let’s bash Lower Hutt.
Perhaps you could all compare Lower Hutt’s rate rises with your own – over the past four years we’ve gone up at less than the rate of inflation without jacking up lots of debt. And unlike Wellington, you can bike and walk everywhere because its flat. And it’s warmer, has better recreation facilities, more parks, more bush reserves, the best public transport in NZ. (I could go on for hours)
Although I can’t deny that SH2 from Ngauranga to Upper Hutt needs major upgrading!
May 26th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Michael
“I’m concerned that this thread has turned into a let’s bash Lower Hutt.”
Whats wrong with that? …bashing the Hutt Valley is about the best thing the place has going for it, the sooner Wellington gets full independence from Upper and Lower bogan the better.
May 26th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
big bruv – aaah Windy Wellington: home of Peter Jackson, “Wellybobs”, home of the (ahem) Hurricanes, the Caketin…um…did I mention Peter Jackson?
Tell us all what a cool place it is nowadays!
May 26th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Mr Nobody
There was a time when the PM walked to work from 41 Pipitea Street, had haircuts at a Molesworth Street hairdresser (Maggies or predecessor?), and his 41 Pipitea St phone number was in the phone book. Mat Rata took it over in 1972 and AFAIK it was subsequently used for offices.
May 26th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Monty, Anderton is an electorate MP and thus cannot name a successor – if he were to resign there would be a by-election in his electorate. My guess is that it would be won by the Labour candidate.
May 27th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Rob Muldoon drove himself to the Beehive each day in his Ministerial issue self drive car.
And home again afterwards, which was rather dangerous given the volume of drinking in Parliament in those days. On the night he announced the Schnapps Election, kindly Don McKinnon snuck down to the Beehive carpark and let the air out of all four of Muldoon’s tyres, to ensure the roads were safe that night.
Nowadays, of course, the incumbent would whoosh down the emergency lane with a police escort – unaware, naturally, of her speed or our plight.
What do you mean, your plight? Don’t you live in Perth?
In any event, our politicians are not driven around with police escorts. The one time this happened, the outcome was such that it made it highly unlikely ever to be repeated.
May 27th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I’m with Strutta about the $47m renovation of Government House. Surely at that price it would be cheaper to run a bulldozer through the current Government House (an eyesore, so no great loss) and then rebuild from scratch??? Wellington has only a handful of houses worth more than $4.7m (a tenth of the renovation costs) and those valuations are probably mainly propped up by the land values rather than the building value.
So how the f($k do you spend $47m on renovating even a large house??? Who signs off on these decisions???
DPF … that $47m figure needs a lot of further investigation. Seems like plenty of ammunition for an Opposition looking to point to profligate public spending.
October 26th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
For those who dont know the GG is a kiwi born and bread not an Indian