Description Comments

Aftermath of fire at Masonic Hotel

Description: This photograph was published in the Manawatū Evening Standard on 10 July 1934 with the caption: "Disastrous Fire at Ashhust - A big fire at Ashhurst early this morning razed to the ground the Masonic Hotel, the Public Hall, and the Masonic Hall. The scene of the conflagration this morning." The newspaper reported: "With the townspeople helpless on account of the lack of fire-fighting facilities, the most disasterous fire in the history of Ashhurst, shortly after midnight, swept clean through the block of three buildings ... on the corner of Feilding Road and Torstonson Street. All that remained this morning were the chimneys and a tangled mass of roofing iron among the smoking ruins. The damage is estimated at thousands of pounds" (p.8). Mr E Stratton, the barman-porter at the Masonic Hotel, awoke to find his room full of smoke and escaped the burning building by jumping from the balcony "barefooted" and "clad in his night attire."
The Masonic Hotel was located at the corner of Stortford and Oxford Streets, Ashhurst. The building in the background is the Exclusive Brethren Hall.
This image is derived from a copy negative made from a photograph loaned for copying. The original photograph is not held by the Ian Matheson City Archives.