Historic building mooted as new home for WAA! Club
The Whakatū Arts and Action Club is hoping to find a new home in the historic former Nelson Institute building on Hardy St.
With 125 members, a lease running out on its current Bridge St premises, and needing a bigger space for gigs, the WAA! Club was disappointed to have missed out on a recent bid to buy the former Zumo space from Nelson City Council.
But at an evening gala on Thursday night, plans were revealed to potentially move the club to the former Nelson Institute building at 309 Hardy St, which has sat empty for over a decade. The building housed the city’s library and museum at the Hardy St site from 1861, with the existing building constructed in 1911.
Alan Proctor-Thomson, one of the driving forces behind the club, said WAA! was like a “spiritual successor” to the Nelson Institute, which was planned on ships sailing to Nelson in 1841, and was established as a membership organisation.
The Nelson Institute was still in existence and was supportive of the proposal, he said, and the club was excited about bringing them back home into the building.
Speaking at the event, deputy mayor Pete Rainey said nothing had been decided yet about the Nelson Institute building and there were practical questions that had to be worked through, but the idea was “enormously appealing”.
“Here’s a building with a remarkable history associated with learning, culture, and community life. Imagine bringing it back to life as a centre for contemporary creativity, collaboration, and community,” he said.
“A historic building, not simply preserved as a reminder of Nelson’s past, but reinvented as part of Nelson’s future.”
Rainey said he would continue to be a strong advocate for WAA! as the club explored the options for finding a new home, adding that the mayor was “very positive” about the project.
He encouraged property owners, businesses, philanthropists, and community organisations to get behind the initiative.
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