Bringing Original Plasterwork Back to Life
At Toitoi, Hastings Opera House, Atlas is recreating original fibrous plaster mouldings using the same casting techniques the trade was built on, matched profile for profile against the moulds we made for this building nearly a century ago.
Cast from the original, or rebuilt from what remains.
Where original moulds survive, we cast directly from them. Where they don't, we reverse-engineer profiles from what remains and recreate them by hand, the same way Atlas has approached restoration work since Ernie Boyle moved the company to Hastings after the 1931 earthquake.
Toitoi
Atlas created many of the original mouldings for the Hastings Opera House, and some of those original moulds still exist in our workshop today. As part of the venue's earthquake-strengthening redevelopment, we're casting from them where we can and recreating what's been lost using traditional techniques. The result is a close finish where the original heritage is indistinguishable from new.
A ceiling built to be looked up at
The auditorium's central dome carries the room: a deep coffer in fibrous plaster, ringed with ornamental moulding and framed against the painted ceiling around it. Every run of moulding here was cast and fixed by hand, and every repair has to disappear into work that's been looked at from the stalls for the better part of a century.
“Some of the original moulds are still in our workshop, and we're casting straight from patterns Atlas made for this building the first time round.”
Original mouldings, restored and re-gilded by hand
New work, same venue.
Toitoi's redevelopment isn't only about preserving what's original. It's added contemporary event spaces alongside the heritage auditorium. Here the brief flips: instead of matching a century-old profile, Atlas works to a completely different vocabulary, while staying true to the same trade and the same standard of craft.
Toitoi is our most extensively documented restoration project to date. Atlas has undertaken heritage and restoration work on other buildings across Hawke's Bay. Get in touch to discuss a specific project, or for examples beyond what's shown here.
Heritage questions
Every heritage building is different. The best first step is a conversation.
Can you recreate a moulding when the original mould is gone?
Yes. Where original moulds survive we cast directly from them. Where they don't, we reverse-engineer the profile from what remains and recreate it by hand.
What did Atlas do at Toitoi, Hastings Opera House?
Atlas made many of the building's original mouldings, and some of those moulds are still in our workshop. During the earthquake-strengthening redevelopment we cast from them where we could and recreated lost sections using traditional techniques.
Do you work on other heritage buildings?
Yes. We've carried out heritage and restoration work on other buildings across Hawke's Bay, and are often commissioned by local councils and community organisations. Get in touch to discuss a specific building.
More from Atlas
Residential
GIB installation, stopping, Curveline curves, bulkheads and fireplace surrounds.
Commercial
Rondo steel framing, high-volume GIB fixing and stopping, structural plastering.
Ceiling centres
Over 40 decorative designs, Art Deco to acanthus, cast to order.
Corbels & cornice
Corbels, decorative and plain cornice profiles in fibrous plaster.
Restoring a heritage building?
Talk to us about original mouldings, matching profiles and casting from existing moulds. Emailing photos of the damaged or missing work is a great place to start.
Send us any and every question. No job is too small to ask about.