The ART DECO CAPITAL OF THE WORLD - (Maybe).

THE ART DECO CAPITAL OF THE WORLD - (MAYBE).

 

Napier City, with a population of 63,000 sits in the Hawkes Bay Province of NZ facing the Pacific Ocean. It is addressed by Marine Parade with it's Norfolk Pines, Museums, Aquariums, Rotunda and various rinks.. The region services meat, fruit, vegetable and vineyard production along with processing of same, all supported by tourism and an export port.

IN 1931 it was destroyed by a massive earthquake, killing over 260 people and levelling the city. The seafloor rose over 7 feet and created another 14 square miles of land, on some of which now sits the Napier Airport. The city was immediately re-built between 1931 and 1933 at the height of the architectural Art Deco era. According to some, Napier represents the largest collection of Art Deco buildings in the world. Another writer, more modestly states ."... largest in the southern hemisphere". (A similar claim is made for South Beach Miami but others argue that this is of a later style of Art Deco).

Napier revels in it's Art Deco reputation. In February each year the city holds it's Art Deco Festival with festivities, art displays, vintage car rallies and is attended by over 60,000 visitors. Period dress is the order of the day. City antique shops sell Flapper Dresses, striped Blazers, Pocket Watch's, period men & woman's hats together with household tableware and bric-brac of the day.

On a bright summer Hawkes Bay day I loaded the Canon P, wearing the Canon 50/1.8, with plain old Drugstore Kodak Gold 200 and took a walk around town to capture some of the buildings. Processing was by Treehouse, HI.

Some cropping of the shots was necessitated by my rather poor ability to correctly judge the viewfinder lines. There is very little artistry here (I have none) and I suspect the "Banality Meter" reading is quite high. However, I enjoyed the project.

 

HOTELS

 

The Masonic Hotel has a historic reputation of hosteling National & International sports teams visiting "the Bay".

The old Public Bar, scene of many "ado's" in the past, is now quite reputable. The restaurant is a popular gathering place and looks out onto Marine Parade.

 

MASONIC HOTEL

 

Over the years, a great many rugby players have traversed (staggered) in and out of these doors.

 

MASONIC DOORS.

 

 

The County Hotel was one of only 2 buildings to survive the quake. Today it it has a boutique style and is Napier's premier hotel.

 

COUNTY HOTEL.

 

The more worldly-minded can enter the corner door to access the "Churchill Champagne Lounge" and the "Wine Street Restaurant" which is, yes, on Wine Street.

 

WINE STREET.

 

DINOSAURS

 

The New Zealand Shipping Company was in existence for 100 years, from 1873 to 1973, when it was absorbed into other shipping corporations. It's illustrious history included the loss of 28 ships during the two World Wars and it's role in opening the international meat trade, shipping frozen meat from New Zealand to London on the SS Matuara in 1882.

 

OLD NZSC BUILDING.

 

THe Australian Mutual Provident Society was formed in 1849 to provide insurance services to Australasia. It sold it's first insurance in New Zealand in 1854 when the county's population was less than 100,000. Originally a Mutual Society it is, today, a listed Public Company.

 

AMP BUILDING.

 

LIAR-YERS.

 

Some notable old family names here.

 

SAINSBURY LOGAN & WILLIAMS.

 

TENNYSON CHAMBERS.

 

GLADSTONE CHAMBERS.

 

FORSYTH BARR HOUSE.

 

MORE SAINSBURY ETC.

 

SUNDRY

 

PARKERS CHAMBERS (with a PLug for INDIGO)

 

MORE OF THE TENNYSONS.

 

ON HASTINGS STREET.

 

Enjoy!

Enjoy. .ed, Indeed! I bet Rick Steve's & Anthony Bordain will be knocking on your door! Aloha, Bill

Nice

Thanks for sharing, Tony. When I visited NZ back in the early '90s, Napier was one place I didn't visit, and I didn't know it was known for Art Deco.

 

I do recall a lot of Victorian architecture in some of the South Island cities, such as Oamaru and Dunedin.

Nice set of photos, and I appreciate the history.

Great series featuring Napier, Tony. I really must go to the Art Deco festival, next year. To think that I worked in Napier for a couple of years, about 35 years ago, and never took a single photograph of these buildings. But "Art Deco" has been rediscovered since then... I love the way the street signs are now rendered in the famous "Broadway" script.

I should have noted that the negs were wet-scanned on the BSH/V700 under Silverfast SE.

Thank you all for the kind comments.

T.

Edited March 22, 2018 by Tony Evans