John Hill Building, 201 Market Street South, Hastings

Inventory Number: 8; Property ID 21193#002#0005 Report by C. Cochran and P. Cleaver, April 2006; Final Report November 2012, Updated 2015 Environmental Policy Team

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Hastings CBD Heritage Inventory Project

JOHN HILL BUILDING (FORMER)

OTHER NAMES: Commercial Building and Hawke’s Bay Realties Building

LOCATION:

Street and Number: 201 Market Street South

Location Information: Located on the corner of Eastbourne Street West and Market Street South

City/ Town: Hastings

Region: Hawke’s Bay

LEGAL DESCRIPTION:

Legal Description: SHOP 3 DP 27761 ON LOT 1 DP 27302

Certificate of Title (includes Registry): HBW4/796

John Hill Building, 201 Market Street South, Hastings

Inventory Number: 8; Property ID 21193#002#0005 Report by C. Cochran and P. Cleaver, April 2006; Final Report November 2012, Updated 2015 Environmental Policy Team

Page 2

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANCE:

Architectural Value:

The architectural value of the building has diminished over time, having undergone major exterior alterations.

Aesthetic Value:

There is some townscape value in the sweep of the building around a prominent city corner. However, the exterior changes made to the building have also impacted on its aesthetic value.

Historic Value:

The building has very limited historical value as a commercial building of the 1930s. Hastings is, like Napier, a city substantially shaped by the one event – the Hawke’s Bay earthquake in 1931 – which led to the destruction and rebuilding of much of the city centre. This building is just one of many significant buildings that are identifiably from the same post-earthquake period and which so strongly define the character of the city. However, the contribution of this building has been mitigated by various alterations including those completed in 2001.

Technological Value:

There is very limited technological value in the building. This relates to its reinforced concrete construction during the post-earthquake era, of which there are many better examples nearby. The original construction materials have some value; the vitrolite tiling is an unusual feature of modest technical and aesthetic interest.

HISTORY:

The plans of the John Hill Building, which was designed by Sydney George Chaplin, are dated 22 March 1938.1 It was built, probably later that year, by prominent local builder H.W. Abbott.2

Chaplin was born in Hastings in 1905.3 He attended the School of Architecture at Auckland University and in the late 1920s undertook further training and gained work experience in England. Chaplin returned to New Zealand just before the 1931 Napier earthquake. He set up his own practice and later, after the Second World War, joined the firm of Davies and Phillips, becoming a partner in 1947. In 1934, Chaplin won a competition to design a new clock tower by the Heretaunga Street railway crossing.4 His design of the John Hill Building is an example of a corner-sited building that ‘made much of the rounded edges characteristic of Art Deco architecture.’5 The façade featured signage of metal lettering in the Art Deco style, spaced out from the wall.6

1 Hastings District Council file information.

2 Hastings District Council file information.

3 Alexander Turnbull Library, inwards correspondence file.

4 M.B., Boyd, City of the Plains: A History of Hastings, Wellington, 1984, p 295.

5 Shaw, Peter, and Hallett, Peter, Spanish Mission Hastings: Styles of Five Decades, Napier, 1991, p 74.

6 Ann Galloway Architects and Works Consultancy Services, Hastings Design Guide: Responding to Hastings Architectural Heritage,

Hastings, 1994, p 18.

John Hill Building, 201 Market Street South, Hastings

Inventory Number: 8; Property ID 21193#002#0005 Report by C. Cochran and P. Cleaver, April 2006; Final Report November 2012, Updated 2015 Environmental Policy Team

Page 3

The plans of the John Hill Building were prepared for the ‘reconstruction of premises’, indicating that there was an earlier building on the site located on the northwest corner of Market and Eastbourne Streets. This may have been damaged by the 1931 Napier Earthquake. In 1925, the site had been occupied by agricultural implement manufacturers Booth, McDonald, and Company Limited.7 In 1930, the site was occupied by Kelsey and Hill Limited, electrical engineers.8 Until at least 1970, the John Hill Building was occupied by John Hill Limited, an electrical engineering business.9

The John Hill Building was situated within Lots 1 and 2 DP 5048. Both of these parcels of land were eventually acquired by John Hill Limited.10 In 1938, when the John Hill Building was designed, Lots 1 DP 5048 was owned by Booth, McDonald, and Company Limited. It was transferred to John Hill Limited In June 1959.

A record of building and resource consents shows that many alterations have been made to the John Hill Building.11 While these alterations have mostly affected the interior, there has also been some modification of the exterior, including the removal of the original signage. In June 1999, subdivision consent was given for the John Hill Building to be cross leased.12 In August 1999 the land was divided into Shops 1, 2, and 3 DP 27761, each held under a 999 year lease.13 Major renovations were then undertaken, leaving only part of the original façade of the John Hill building intact.14 The John Hill Building is currently occupied by an Asian Food Supermarket. The current owner is listed as Jane Elizabeth McElroy.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:

Architect: Sydney George Chaplin

Builder: H. W. Abbott

Date of Construction: c1938

Construction Details: In situ concrete foundations and walls, plaster finish to the walls; timber-framed roof; vitrolite tiling above main entrance.

Description: The former John Hill Ltd building is a modest single storey structure, very typical of its time in form and construction materials. The main entrance is on the Market St / Eastbourne Rd corner, and is marked by a recessed door sheltered by a concrete hood that runs around the corner. Above the hood is the feature of the building that distinguishes it most, a panel up to the top of the parapet clad with black vitrolite tiles. These originally formed the background to very stylish art deco lettering, executed in stainless steel, proclaiming the name JOHN HILL LIMITED; this signage, and other panels of vitrolite tiles around the entrance, has now gone.

Also gone now is the bulk of the building which used to stretch down Eastbourne Street. It is difficult to piece together the history of physical change of the building, but several things are clear. First, the building designed by Chaplin in 1938 was not all new at the

7 Wises Street Directory, 1925.

8 Wises Street Directory, 1930.

9 Hastings District Council file information.

10 Certificates of title: 79/43, Hawke’s Bay Registry; M4/531, Hawke’s Bay Registry.

11 Hastings District Council file information.

12 Hastings District Council file information.

13 Certificates of title: W4/794, Hawke’s Bay Registry; W4/795, Hawke’s Bay Registry; W4/796, Hawke’s Bay Registry.

14 Hastings District Council file information.

John Hill Building, 201 Market Street South, Hastings

Inventory Number: 8; Property ID 21193#002#0005 Report by C. Cochran and P. Cleaver, April 2006; Final Report November 2012, Updated 2015 Environmental Policy Team

Page 4

time; the architectural drawing under his name is titled ‘Reconstruction of Premises’ and the plan shows various ‘existing’ elements. Second, the building Chaplin designed has been extended along Market Street. And third, a significant part of the original building has been demolished to form the present-day carpark, leaving the building today in two disparate parts.

ELEMENTS OF ARCHITECTURAL IMPORTANCE:

Element Significance

Vitrolite tiling Aesthetic

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES:

Ann Galloway Architects and Works Consultancy Services, Hastings Design Guide: Responding to Hastings Architectural Heritage, Hastings, 1994.

Certificates of title 6/152 and A4/908, Hawke’s Bay Registry.

Hastings District Council file information.

Shaw, Peter, and Hallett, Peter, Spanish Mission Hastings: Styles of Five Decades, Napier, 1991.

Wises Street Directory, 1916 to 1959-60.

OTHER INFORMATION:

NZHPT Registration Number: This building has been removed from the NZHPT Registry (previously a Category II item (Register Number 2756))

District Plan Listing: Listed as a Category II heritage item (number 40) in the Operative Hastings District Plan (declared operative 10 June 2003). In the Proposed Hastings District Plan, 2015 the building is listed as a Category II heritage item (HB50).

New Zealand Historic Places Act 1993: This site has been identified as a potential archaeological site under Section 2 of the New Zealand Historic Places Act 1993.

John Hill Building, 201 Market Street South, Hastings

Inventory Number: 8; Property ID 21193#002#0005 Report by C. Cochran and P. Cleaver, April 2006; Final Report November 2012, Updated 2015 Environmental Policy Team

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OTHER PHOTOGRAPHS:

John Hill Building the 1970s (note original fenestration and signage) (C. Beall, 03/B49, Hastings District Council)

John Hill Building in 1996 (note length of wall on Eastbourne Street side) (DHB, July 1996, Neg 34, Film B257471, Hastings District Council)

John Hill Building, 201 Market Street South, Hastings

Inventory Number: 8; Property ID 21193#002#0005 Report by C. Cochran and P. Cleaver, April 2006; Final Report November 2012, Updated 2015 Environmental Policy Team

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ARCHIVE PLAN(S):

Reconstruction of Premises, Market St, Hastings for Messrs John Hill Limited, (1928) (TRIM Ref: 21193#0003)