A Samoan academic says she's shattered that Apia's old courthouse will be demolished and rebuilt as a hotel.
New Zealand, British, Australian and French servicemen raise the Union Jack at the Apia courthouse in August 1914 Photo: nzhistory.govt.nz
Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said the central building, which was built in 1902, was riddled with termites and had been condemned.
The top floor of the new building would be a hotel and the ground floor would be turned into stores and a museum, he said.
But AUT University's Professor of Pacific Studies, Tagaloa Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop, said the German-designed building was a key part of Samoa's history.
"I would say I feel shattered and quite despairing of what I would see as quite a casual consideration of a heritage building," Professor Fairbairn-Dunlop said.
"Are there no other ways we can consider preserving some of the past as it was?"
Samoa's old courthouse building Photo: World Monuments Fund
Demolition probably for the best - actor
A Samoan journalist and actor said it's a shame the old historic court house would be demolished, but it was probably for the best.
Tuiasau Petaia said the court house was no longer safe.
"The fact of the matter is that the building has to be replaced," he said.
"It cannot be renovated piecemeal because the whole place is about ready to fall down. It's lucky that it survived the last hurricane."
Mr Petaia said demolishing the building would signal a new chapter for Samoa.
The UN world heritage agency UNESCO described the building as one of the few remaining timber structures of German colonial design in the world.
