Tauranga City Council is set to re-evaluate plans for the Masonic Park renovation after the surprise discovery of one of the city's earliest buildings.

City Council yesterday announced that archaeologists had found the remains of the Butts Brothers Bakery at the city park, which dates back to the 1870s.

Heritage New Zealand lower northern regional archaeologist Rachel Darmody at Masonic Park. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga were called in to investigate after contractors working on the renovation uncovered historic artefacts on May 9.

Further investigations found two ovens, a chimney and the foundations of the shop's cobbled floor.

The bakery had a shop frontage on The Strand and was still operating in the World War II. It sold baked goods, confectionary and bridal cakes.

It is believed the early cooking ovens are from two different time periods - one dating back to the early 1870s, or possibly earlier, and a later one believed to be constructed at the turn of the Century.

Heritage New Zealand lower northern regional archaeologist Rachel Darmody is excited by the 'nationally significant” find as it represents Tauranga's early commercial development.

'We haven't found a bakery like this particularly in an urban environment like this where there has been buildings and various things over top of it. It's great to see it's been preserved beneath,” says Rachel.

'It is rare to find such a well-preserved bakery from this time period anywhere in New Zealand. The only other examples we have are from the goldfields of Central Otago and one site in Dunedin.”

Archaeologists have been excavating the remains of the bakery for the past two weeks, documenting everything they find along the way.

What is unusual about the find, says Rachel, is the number of large stones on the base of the first oven - something Bay of Plenty Archaeology heritage consultant Ken Phillips believes has to do with retaining the heat inside the oven.

'Further down near the shop front there has been a chimney where they found sewing needles and they have found clay pots, so that is cool to see those domestic artefacts being found.”

With the site fully excavated, council's attention now turns to trying to integrate the historical site into the parks $150,000 makeover.

Work on rectifying stormwater issues and better utilising the park's recreational ability started earlier this month, in what was estimated to be a two month project.

'It was going to be relatively easy and relatively simple. We knew before we started that this was where the Masonic Hotel was,” says Tauranga City Council project manager Tony Bodger.

'It was just to do some landscaping on this side, but the first dig bought up some bricks and Fulton Hogan stopped immediately.”

The Masonic Park site was historically home to the Masonic Hotel from 1865 until it was demolished in 1993. Council decided in 2010 it would become an open space reserve in 2010.

Renovation work at the park will resume around the archaeology site from next week.

Tony says council and Heritage New Zealand are considering how best to preserve the find with options and costs to be presented to councillors next month.

'Since we have revealed this now we are looking starting to look at how we can keep it open and make it part of the park.

'It will be great to finish off with something that is a real feature of the development.”

What do you think could be done with the site? Comment here.