Hot Gossip Café, 142 Heretaunga Street West Inventory Number: 40; Property ID: 21326 Trim Reference: 21326#002#0002 Report by Chris Cochran & Michael Kelly Draft: 3 August 2007, update December 2009, updated July 2012 (Cochran & Murray); Final Report: November 2012 Hastings CBD Heritage Inventory Project Photo: R. Murray, 2012 LOCATION: Street and Number: 142 Heretaunga Street East (Council) 134-142 Heretaunga Street East (Business) City / Town: Hastings Region: Hawke’s Bay LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Legal Description: Lots 1-5 DP 6056 Certificate of Title: CT HB A4/909 HOT GOSSIP CAFÉ
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Hot Gossip Café, 142 Heretaunga Street West Inventory Number: 40; Property ID: 21326 Trim Reference: 21326#002#0002 Report by Chris Cochran & Michael Kelly Draft: 3 August 2007, update December 2009, updated July 2012 (Cochran & Murray); Final Report: November 2012
Hastings CBD Heritage Inventory Project
Photo: R. Murray, 2012
LOCATION:
Street and Number: 142 Heretaunga Street East (Council)
134-142 Heretaunga Street East (Business)
City / Town: Hastings
Region: Hawke’s Bay
LEGAL DESCRIPTION:
Legal Description: Lots 1-5 DP 6056
Certificate of Title: CT HB A4/909
HOT GOSSIP CAFÉ
Hot Gossip Café, 142 Heretaunga Street West Inventory Number: 40; Property ID: 21326 Trim Reference: 21326#002#0002 Report by Chris Cochran & Michael Kelly Draft: 3 August 2007, update December 2009, updated July 2012 (Cochran & Murray); Final Report: November 2012
SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANCE:
Architectural value: This is a good, if modest example, of a low-rise Art Deco-style commercial building, enhanced by an appropriate colour scheme.
Aesthetic value: The main aesthetic value of the building derives from its townscape value; it forms part of a consistent collection of 1920s and 1930s buildings in Heretaunga Street East that have common features and styles.
Historic value: Like a number of other small buildings constructed in Heretaunga Street after the Napier earthquake, this has had a typical, prosaic history and is of modest local historical and social value.
HISTORY:
This building was constructed about 1932, in the wake of the Napier earthquake, on land owned by Hastings solicitor George Ebbett.1 Ebbett bought the property in 1926 from Maurice Millar and Arturo Giorgi.
George Ebbett died in 1955 and the property was passed to solicitor Ernest Gilford and accountant Albert Wishart, both of Hastings. They sold the property to Clyde Jeffery, described as a ‘men’s outfitter’, in 1964.2 In 1971, Nelson Wong, a market gardener, and Paul von Dadelszen, a solicitor in Hastings, bought the property. In 1988 Von Dadelszen’s share passed to another solicitor, Philip Hocquard. In August 2000 Alan Pierce became part owner of the property with Nelson Wong, and a month later they sold the property to current owners Kevin Clark, Gary Holden and John Fluker.3
The building was divided into two shops and street directories suggest that the building was occupied, for a long period, by a butcher’s to the south, and among others, a skin specialist to the north.4 In 1994 the property received a grant as part of the Hastings District Council’s Façade Enhancement Scheme. In 1999 the shop that had earlier been a butcher’s was converted to a takeaway bar. Prior to this conversion, it had been occupied by Elmar Photo Services (owned by Clovelly 1996 Limited). Today, this is a café (now Hot Gossip Café, previously Sorci Café). The larger tenancy is presently unoccupied.
1 CT HB 6/154, LINZ, Napier
2 Ibid.
3 CT HB A4/909, LINZ, Napier
4 Wises Street Directories, 1934-1960
Hot Gossip Café, 142 Heretaunga Street West Inventory Number: 40; Property ID: 21326 Trim Reference: 21326#002#0002 Report by Chris Cochran & Michael Kelly Draft: 3 August 2007, update December 2009, updated July 2012 (Cochran & Murray); Final Report: November 2012
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
Architect: Unknown
Builder: Edwards Construction5
Date of construction: c.1932
Construction details: Reinforced concrete construction, foundations, floor and walls.
Description: This is a small single storey concrete building, three bays wide and divided into two long narrow shops. The original drawings show tiled walls finishes, lead-light and plate glass windows, and glazed doors with glazing bars in intricate geometric patterns, all now gone. The two shop fronts are finished with modern aluminium joinery and timber doors respectively. However, above the stayed verandah, the original architectural design of the upper façade remains intact. This consists of a stepped parapet decorated with a simple but visually striking combination of geometric Art Deco motifs in shallow relief. It features zig-zag banding framed by a traditional neo-Classical scroll bracket at each end; three sunk panels in the middle of the parapet, and a fluted band below. There is a row of low-set steel-framed windows immediately above the verandah giving light to the shop interiors.
The decorative work is effective in giving the building a presence in the street; it has been well painted to emphasise the Art Deco features. The adjacent building to the north (134 Heretaunga Street) is of the same scale and similar design.
ELEMENTS OF ARCHITECTURAL IMPORTANCE:
Element Significance
Form and detail of façade above verandah Townscape, architectural, aesthetic
Hot Gossip Café, 142 Heretaunga Street West Inventory Number: 40; Property ID: 21326 Trim Reference: 21326#002#0002 Report by Chris Cochran & Michael Kelly Draft: 3 August 2007, update December 2009, updated July 2012 (Cochran & Murray); Final Report: November 2012
OTHER INFORMATION:
NZHPT Register: Not registered
District Plan: The building is not specifically identified in the Hastings District Plan as a Heritage item, however it is located within the Central Character Precinct.
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.
Hot Gossip Café, 142 Heretaunga Street West Inventory Number: 40; Property ID: 21326 Trim Reference: 21326#002#0002 Report by Chris Cochran & Michael Kelly Draft: 3 August 2007, update December 2009, updated July 2012 (Cochran & Murray); Final Report: November 2012
ARCHIVE PLAN(S):
New shop for Dr. H.M Wilson by Davies, Garnett & Phillips (No date) (TRIM Ref: 21326#0012)
Hot Gossip Café, 142 Heretaunga Street West Inventory Number: 40; Property ID: 21326 Trim Reference: 21326#002#0002 Report by Chris Cochran & Michael Kelly Draft: 3 August 2007, update December 2009, updated July 2012 (Cochran & Murray); Final Report: November 2012
