Located on the north-eastern corner of the Eliot and Courtenay Street intersection, this six-storey building was built for the Perry Dines Corporation in 1984-85. The architects were Boon, Goldsmith & Co., structural engineering was carried out by Holmes, Wood, Poole & Johnstone, and the builders were Roebuck Construction. "Flight House" was moved from the section to make way for the building.
Only a year later Perry Dines Corporation ran into financial problems and the building was purchased by the State Services Commission on 2 May 1986 for $1.5 million in a mortgagee sale.
The building later became known as Education House, with an outreach campus of Massey University being based in the building. After the Christchurch earthquakes it was assessed as an earthquake risk as it was thought to be similar in design to the CTV Building which collapsed in the February 2011 quake.
Education House remained empty for over 10 years and in 2019 (Taranaki Daily News 21 August) it was voted by the readers as the biggest eyesore in Taranaki.
The site was land-banked in 1997 as part of the Treaty settlement process and in August 2022 Te Ātiawa confirmed that they had purchased the site and demolition of Education House would commence shortly. It was carefully demolished over the following months with the site finally cleared by October 2022.
Related documents:
$2M Office Block (Taranaki Herald 2 June 1984)
Office Block Approved (Daily News 20 June 1984)
Perry Dines Building Nearly Complete (Daily News 14 June 1985)
Perry Dines surrounded by wall of silence (Taranaki Herald 28 August 1985)
PD moves out of building (Daily News 3 December 1985)
Interest in PD building growing (Daily News 22 January 1986)
$2m building to be auctioned (Taranaki Herald 27 January 1986)
'Eyesore' building's future in the spotlight (Taranaki Daily News 6 January 2022)
Eyesore Set To Be Demolished (Taranaki Daily News 27 June 2022)
Security Issues At Empty 'Eyesore' Scotched (Taranaki Daily News 26 May 2022)
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