Wellington Heritage Festival 2025: a Silverstream showcase
Published on 16 October 2025
It’s all eyes on the captivating history of Silverstream Hospital at our community event for this year’s Wellington Heritage Festival, running 18 October to 9 November 2025.
After highlighting the city’s historic industrial growth and manufacturing success with our “Upper Hutt: City of Industry” exhibition last year, we invite you this time to explore an iconic local building site at the southern end of town.
Silverstream Hospital: an Illustrated Presentation and Tour
Date: Saturday, 1 November 2025
Time: 1.00-2.30PM
Venue: Silverstream Retreat, 3 Reynolds Bach Drive
This is a rare opportunity to learn about and tour the former site of Silverstream Hospital, originally used for US troops during WWII. Today, the site is well known across the wider region as the home of Silverstream Retreat, a popular function and conference venue.
Our free event includes an illustrated presentation, featuring aerial photographs and archival material telling Silverstream Hospital’s story from construction to peak operations, and its post-war use for long-term hospital care in the Wellington District until 1989.
Bookings are required. To book, please email: reid.perkins@uhcc.govt.nz
Upper Hutt's past at your fingertips
Keen to dive deeper into Upper Hutt’s history? Thanks to ongoing input from residents as well as Upper Hutt organisations and community groups, our archive provides a fascinating look at local events, places, and people.
Mahara Upper Hutt Community Archive is our dedicated online platform for browsing, researching, and enjoying our diverse collection of heritage content. It tells the story of our city, through the voices and eyes of those who have lived and worked here.
Our community’s generous donations continue to expand and add to this kete (basket, resource) of local knowledge and history. We welcome new content any time – create a free account on Mahara and upload your own photographs of places and events any time.
For larger donations, please email our Heritage team.