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At the beginning of the twentieth century, Dunedin was an influential and thriving city. Thanks to the legacy of gold, there was much new building.

A design competition

A competition to design a Town Hall befitting the city was announced in April 1913. A year later in April 1914, Mr Mandeno was declared the winner.

Although the successful design was published as Mr Mandeno's, in fact it was the design of Mr Roy H Fraser. Roy was a young architect not yet well known and without financial substance. He needed a partner, and so the firm Mandeno and Fraser was founded. Today it is the firm Oakley Gray.

The proposal to erect a Town Hall came before the civic authorities in 1915. It was postponed due to the shadow cast by the First World War and to considerable ratepayer opposition to the scheme.

In 1926, office accommodation for the increasing staff became necessary and it was successfully argued that it would be economical, because of the considerable costs involved, to build a Town Hall at the same time.

Mr Lewin, the Town Clerk, outlined a scheme submitted to him in 1915, stating that the Town Hall should be erected as a gift to the city from the city trading departments. The report, recommending that the architects should proceed, was submitted to the Council on June 16, 1926, and was carried.

Funding for the project

Funding was provided by profits from Dunedin City Corporation Trading Branches over three years, mainly profits from electricity and gas and the trams. Half-yearly payments that had been previously made to a renewal fund of the several trading branches were to be diverted for a period of three years to a Town Hall Construction Fund.

For the year 1925/26, these branches returned the unprecedented sum of 118,000 pounds. To this the trams contributed 38,176 pounds from penny tram rides to and from the South Seas Exhibition at Logan Park (29 million passengers, over 5 million more than in the previous year).

The Town Clerk estimated the probable cost of the hall, including fittings, organ and grand piano, to be about 90,000 pounds.

The Town Hall was built entirely from the proceeds of trading, without incurring a penny of debt.

Building begins

In 1926, the firm Messrs Mandeno & Fraser was instructed to proceed with the details of the structure, and some changes were made to the original design.

Tenders were called in 1927 and building commenced. Love Construction Company won the contract and G W Davies and Co the heating contract. The total cost was 86,041pounds and 12s.

The foundation stone was laid 3 March 1928 by Mayor W B Taverner.