- Nurses secured Pahīatua Hospital building for their mission after an Auckland benefactor funded the purchase.
- The property will be used to host health clinics, training courses and retreats.
- The nurses’ church plans to expand community services, including a café, health food store, and bookshop.
The prayers of two nurses from Manawatu-Whanganui have been answered after an Auckland benefactor bought a landmark hospital building for them.
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Estelle Edwards and Carol Rampton had been looking for a new venue to continue their healthy ministry services when they learned that Masters Hall, formerly Pahīatua Hospital, was on the market.
Pahīatua Hospital closed its doors to patients in 1998, and for the last nine years, the site has been run as an events and accommodation venue by locals Cathy and Andy Vaughan.
The couple had listed the property a year ago after deciding to call time on their business and move closer to their family.
Edwards and Rampton, who belong to the local Seventh Day Adventist church, thought the property, which has 30 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, a tower, and storerooms converted from the morgues, was perfect for their mission.
One of their fellow church-goers, Matthew Bloomfield, went along with them to inspect the property and agreed, but said it was way out of their budget.
“I remember when we first went and looked at it – it’s a big place. There’s so much potential there as far as holistic health ministry goes. It’s a huge building, huge grounds and everything, but at the time it really seemed out of our reach, going from nothing to something of that size.”
The property is a big part of Pahīatua and will continue to be so under its new guise. Photo / Supplied
The property sits on more than two hectares zoned for residential development. Photo / Supplied
The group then went away and started praying. “We put in an offer, and it wasn’t enough.”
Edwards and Rampton then shared their vision for the former hospital site at a church camp.
An Auckland member was watching online and decided to help. He sold a property in his portfolio, reportedly for over $1 million, to fund the purchase.
Bloomfield told OneRoof: “The first I heard about it is Estelle ringing me saying, ‘I’ve just had a call from the real estate agent saying there’s a person who wants to buy the property for us’.
“We had been racking our brains; we had been praying, ‘how could we make this happen?’ and then she just rang up and said someone wants to buy it for us. It took me a little while to grasp what she was talking about.”
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The property settles next month, and the church plans to run a few “working bees” before holding its first big event – a two-week training programme on how to minister to others through health.
Bloomfield said the free services already offered to the community, including a monthly nail care clinic in Pahīatua and Masterton, had been extremely popular and having a site would allow them to offer even more clinics, training courses and retreats because the property can sleep about 100 people.
Other possibilities include opening a café, a health food store and a bookshop.
The property will also have a slight name change to The Master’s Hall to reflect its new purpose.
Property Brokers listing agent Patrick Baker said it was “amazing” that the property was going back to its health roots and would benefit the community again.
The services already offered by the church to Pahīatua residents were very well received, he said. “There’s been so many people interested and lots of stories about who is going to buy it, and the community was worried, but now there’s some really good news to come out of it.”
The property closed its doors to patients in the late 1990s and was turned into an events and accommodation business. Photo / Supplied
The medieval re-enactments at the property have been some of the most memorable events held there. Photo / Supplied
Baker said the property had attracted interest from investors, developers and land bankers. “There’s no convenance or heritage [protections] on that property, so they could have bulldozed it,” he said.
“It’s a big building and a big undertaking.”
Baker declined to disclose the sale price, but said it was close to the vendors’ expectations, adding that they had “big smiles”.
Cathy and Andy Vaughan told OneRoof last year that they had hosted countless events at the site, ranging from weddings to festivals. “Probably one of the most memorable events was a medieval re-enactment,” Cathy said, with Andy adding: “We had about 100 people attend, dressed as Templar knights, Romans, Normans, and Saxons - the whole gamut.”
The re-enactment group constructed a castle from 100 pallets and held mock fights with all sorts of weapons. “They had an archery competition and were planning to bring in horses for jousting, but the Covid restrictions prevented that,” Cathy said.
Other gatherings have included everything from scrap-booking to a rally for vintage Indian motorcycles. “Some of the motorcycles were nearly 100 years old,” Andy said. “We get a lot of vintage car groups - the Austin group, the Capri club, and the caravan club. They’ve all pitched their vans on the front lawn.”
And in 2024, the Vaughans hosted a weekend celebrating the 80th anniversary of Polish child evacuees arriving in Pahīatua from Europe.
The property has also attracted the attention of paranormal investigators. “A couple of groups have come in with infrared cameras looking for ghosts,” Cathy said. “Before we took over, they detected quite a bit of activity. But after we had the place blessed and started living here, they said it felt peaceful and calm, which makes sense, as it was a place of healing.”
Despite this, the ghost stories persisted. “Big, burly men seem to be the most concerned,” Cathy said. “We had rugby teams come in, and they were nervous about ghosts.” Recently, a flickering fluorescent light during a volleyball tournament spooked some teenage boys. “Their first thought was, ‘It’s a ghost’,” Cathy said.
The couple said they had worked hard to respect the property’s past life as a hospital. While much of the property’s history remains undocumented, the Vaughans have filled in some of the gaps with stories from guests and locals. “Some of the history we have gathered from guests who used to work here,” Cathy said. “One woman in her 90s told us she started in the laundry and worked her way up to becoming a cook.
“Sometimes, guests walk past a room and say, ‘Oh, that’s where my brother was when he broke his leg’ or ‘I had my tonsils out in this room’. We’ve even had people say, ‘I remember visiting my grandparents here’.”
One unverified tale involves the hospital’s former matron making her rounds accompanied by a bulldog. “We don’t know how true it is, but it’s a fun story,” said Cathy.
The hospital was built in 1902 and expanded in 1940 and again in 1960 to its current footprint of 2330sqm.
The Vaughans said they had enjoyed their time running Masters Hall but were ready for a change. “A couple of reasons. My 91-year-old mother lives with us, and she needs to be closer to a hospital. That’s a bit ironic, isn’t it?” Cathy said.
“Also, we’re both retirement age now, so we’re looking to retire. We love it here. The lifestyle is amazing. But we’re starting to run out of energy and want to take it easy and be closer to our grandchildren.”
Baker also told OneRoof that he had a personal connection to the property - he was born there. “My mum was also one of the last nurses working there.”
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