Harvey's Building & The Chemist Shop, 106 Russell Street South Inventory Number: 16; Property ID: 24156 and 25902; TRIM Reference: 25902#002#0004 Report by Michael Kelly / Chris Cochran, August 2007; Final Audit 19 November 2009; Update by Russell Murray August 2012, Updated 2015 by the HDC Environmental Policy Team

Page 1

Hastings CBD Heritage Inventory Project

HARVEY'S BUILDING & THE CHEMIST SHOP

Photo: P. Huddleston, 2015

LOCATION:

Street and Number: 106 Russell Street South

City / Town: Hastings

Region: Hawke’s Bay

Harvey's Building & The Chemist Shop, 106 Russell Street South Inventory Number: 16; Property ID: 24156 and 25902; TRIM Reference: 25902#002#0004 Report by Michael Kelly / Chris Cochran, August 2007; Final Audit 19 November 2009; Update by Russell Murray August 2012, Updated 2015 by the HDC Environmental Policy Team

Page 2

NB: Although now separate tenancies, the Harvey’s Building and The Chemist Shop were constructed as one building, and as such it was deemed appropriate to include them as a joint entry in the Heritage Inventory.

LEGAL DESCRIPTION:

Legal Description: Lot 5, DP 14181

Certificate of Title (including Registry): G2/1453, Hawke’s Bay Registry

SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANCE: Architectural Value:

Harvey’s Building The architectural significance of the building is high, as a good example of the Spanish Mission style, and especially for the spatial quality of the main internal space. The latter is perhaps the most interesting commercial space in the city, of a grand scale for a small commercial building, well lit and enhanced by a fine art deco ceiling light. The building's townscape value is high too, as it is a compatible neighbour to Westerman's, and an important part of the long row of period buildings on the east side of Russell Street. The Chemist Shop The building is a lightly-adorned flank piece of the adjacent Harvey’s Building. In itself it has only modest architectural value, mainly in reading as an extension of Harvey’s Building; considered as part of Harvey’s buildings it has greater value.

Cultural Value:

Harvey's has cultural significance for two main reasons. The building was a well-patronised retailing outlet for many years and will still be remembered for that period of use by many local residents. More recently, the transformation of the building into an arts centre has given the building a new lease of life. In turn, the building, a most suitable home to a gallery, is now firmly associated with the arts in local minds.

Historic Value:

Harvey’s Building Harvey's Building has historic significance for its association with the Harvey brothers, particularly Leonard Harvey, who formed an important Hastings' retailing institution. Harvey's ran from 1912 to 1976 and operated out of this particular building for over 40 years. The building's association with Creative Hastings (and its predecessors) since 1991 is becoming an important one, especially as considerable restoration has taken place as a result of the organisation's efforts. The Chemist Shop As the building is physically part of Harvey’s Building, it shares in the significance the Harvey Brothers contribute to the retail history of Hastings.

Aesthetic Value:

Harvey's Building & The Chemist Shop, 106 Russell Street South Inventory Number: 16; Property ID: 24156 and 25902; TRIM Reference: 25902#002#0004 Report by Michael Kelly / Chris Cochran, August 2007; Final Audit 19 November 2009; Update by Russell Murray August 2012, Updated 2015 by the HDC Environmental Policy Team

Page 3

The aesthetic value of the Chemist Shop is largely overshadowed by the buildings much grander two-storey flank (Harvey’s), but the Chemist Shop still contributes to the overall Spanish Mission nature of the locality. The main point of visual interest in this part of the building is the remaining terrazzo paneling on the lower façade – and the panelling in the verandah soffit – that ties through to the main building.

Technological Value:

There is technical interest in the concrete structure, enhanced by the existence of a well-detailed set of drawings that show all the steel reinforcing of the concrete.

HISTORY:

Harvey’s Building Harvey’s Building was built in 1933 to replace a building badly damaged in the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake. The building gets its name from a firm established by Leonard Harvey in 1912.

Leonard Harvey (1884-1956) was born in Taradale and while still a youth joined the business of A.H. Wilson in Napier. A.H. Wilson's was a general hardware store but also sold items such as silverware, cutlery and crockery'.1 Harvey soon moved to Hastings to manage Wilson's Hastings branch and became Wilson's partner. In 1912 Harvey took over the entire Hastings operation and began trading under his name. His shop was on Heretaunga Street and here he was joined in business by his brothers, Hedley and Harry. Some time before 1920, this building was replaced by a two-storey brick building.2 In 1920, the Harvey brothers bought, with E.A. Westerman, owner of Westerman's store, a block of land that was bounded by Karamu Road, Russell, Eastbourne and Heretaunga Streets.3 It was soon to become a significant shopping area.

The Hawke’s Bay earthquake of 1931 badly damaged the Harvey brothers' building. Hedley Harvey was lucky to escape with his life after being trapped under rubble. The brothers would appear to have undertaken temporary repairs in order to keep trading from their premises, but planning for a new building was underway, this time on a new site.4

By 1933, new premises, designed by architect Albert Garnett, were under construction on the brothers' land on Russell Street. Albert Garnett was the eldest son of James Garnett, a well-known local builder who was elected Mayor of Hastings in 1911.5 Garnett was himself a member of the Hastings Borough Council between 1921 and 1924. Details of his professional training are not known, but his early career may have been helped by his father’s position. In 1912, Garnett designed the new Methodist Church, and in 1914, he won a competition for the design of the Municipal Buildings.6 He was also responsible for the design of a number of homes and commercial buildings, which included Poppelwell’s in Russell Street (1924) and the Villa d’Este shops and apartments in Heretaunga Street (1929).7

1 Salmond Architects 1998, 'Harvey's Building: A Conservation Plan (draft)', Hastings District Community Arts Centre Trust, Hastings

p.4 2 Ibid.

3 Ibid. p.5

4 Ibid.p.7

5 Shaw and Hallett p 23

6 Shaw and Hallett pp. 23-24; Boyd, p 184

7 Shaw and Hallett pp. 25-26

Harvey's Building & The Chemist Shop, 106 Russell Street South Inventory Number: 16; Property ID: 24156 and 25902; TRIM Reference: 25902#002#0004 Report by Michael Kelly / Chris Cochran, August 2007; Final Audit 19 November 2009; Update by Russell Murray August 2012, Updated 2015 by the HDC Environmental Policy Team

Page 4

In the 1920s, Garnett began working in partnership with Harold Davies and Eric Phillips – ‘the town’s most reputable and prolific architectural practice.’8 After the earthquake, the partnership combined with other architects to form the ‘Architects Associated’ group, which worked across normal professional boundaries to see the efficient repair and replacement of earthquake damaged premises.9 Some of Garnett's other buildings included the Commercial Bank of Australia (later the Cameron McDonald Building), and the Methodist Church in Heretaunga Street.10 He appears to have left the Davies, Garnett, and Phillips partnership c.1933 and continued to work on his own account until at least the mid 1950s.11

The Harvey brother's new shop was built alongside Westerman's and there is a suggestion that the two proprietors agreed that the former would follow the distinctive style of the Edmund Anscombe designed Westerman's, completed in 1932.12 When Harvey's Building officially opened in time for Christmas 1933, customers were given a commemorative brochure with an introduction in Maori and drawings by Colin Wilkinson.13 The most striking aspect of the building's interior was probably the central staircase that ascends to the first storey. This detail is said to have its origin in Hedley Harvey’s enthusiasm for the department stores he visited in Paris during World War I. 14

Harvey’s Building was occupied by the Harvey retail business until 1976. During that time the three brothers all passed away (in the 1950s) and the business was carried on by Elsie Fussell (nee Harvey) and her husband and brother-in-law, who had already been managing the business even before the Harvey brothers died.15 In the 1960s or perhaps later, the timber framing on the storefront was replaced with aluminium.16

In September 1976, the property was transferred from Harvey’s Buildings Limited to Bopac Holdings Limited.17 This transfer marked the end of the Harvey family's association with the building, although it continued to be used for retail purposes. In June 1981, the property was transferred to Lindsey and Nancy Tucker.18 In 1991, the building was leased by Hastings District Arts Council and two years later the Council bought the building. The Hastings District Arts Trust, (now Creative Hastings) run the building as the Hastings Community Arts Centre.

During the Trust's tenure a conservation plan for the building was written by Salmond Architects (1998), and a resource consent was issued for an upgrade to the frontage of the building in 1999.19 This was principally to restore the original appearance of the building’s frontage. In May 1999, the Hastings District Council issued a façade enhancement grant, contributing $3000 towards the exterior upgrade of Harvey’s Building.20 As well as work on the building’s exterior, the Arts Trust also undertook a restoration of the interior. In 2004, the completed restoration won a Supreme Art Deco Award.

The Chemist Shop

8 Ibid. p 23

9 Ibid. p 27

10 Di Stewart and Associates & Salmond Architects, ‘Hastings Municipal Buildings: A Conservation Plan Prepared for the Hastings

District Council’, June 1998, p 13. 11

Shaw and Hallett, p 23, p 31 12

Salmond et al p.8 13

Shaw and Hallett p 29 14

Salmond et al p.9 15

Ibid. 16

Ibid. 17

CT G2/1453, Hawke’s Bay, LINZ 18

Ibid. 19

Planning recommendation for application dated 22 April 1999, Hastings District Council file information. 20

Report on façade enhancement application, 12 May 1999, Hastings District Council file information.

Harvey's Building & The Chemist Shop, 106 Russell Street South Inventory Number: 16; Property ID: 24156 and 25902; TRIM Reference: 25902#002#0004 Report by Michael Kelly / Chris Cochran, August 2007; Final Audit 19 November 2009; Update by Russell Murray August 2012, Updated 2015 by the HDC Environmental Policy Team

Page 5

The Chemist Shop is, perhaps somewhat contrary to its appearance, part of Harvey’s Building and is situated within the same land title; it comprises shops 2 and 3 on the original plan.21 The building was constructed in 1933 to a design by well-known Hastings architect A Garnett.22 The present building follows those plans very closely and still retains the division between the two-storey and single storey parts.23 Permit records show a range of modest additions and changes to the property over time, mainly to the two-storeyed part, although the Chemist Shop has evidently also undergone considerable change to its interior and shop-front. The Chemist Shop is thought to have originally housed a shop selling baby accessories and wool, and soon after became the hardware department of Harvey’s.24 Since 1990, the shop has been used by a variety of businesses, including an electronics retailer, a picture framer, and presently, a pharmacy (Radius).25

In 1976, ownership of the property was transferred from Harvey’s Buildings Limited to Bopac Holdings Limited.26 In 1981, it was transferred to Lindsey Stewart Tucker and Nancy Jane Tucker.27 In 1993, the property was acquired by David Fine, Graham Leslie Linwood, Charles Michael Patrick Donnelly, Colin George Shanley, Ronald Keith Thorsen, and Maree Alice Clare.28 These individuals appear to represent the Hastings Community Arts Trust, the present occupant of Harvey’s Building. Today the property (comprising both Harvey’s Building and The Chemist Shop) is owned by Cynthia Margaret Bowers.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:

Architect: Albert Garnett Builder: Unknown

Date of construction: 1933

Construction details: The main structural material of the building is concrete, used for the foundations, staircase, mezzanine floor and balustrade, and front and rear walls; the side walls are concrete columns with brick infill panels. Floors are timber supported on continuous concrete walls, and the roof is timber-framed.

Description: Harvey’s Building is in two distinct parts; the northern half is two storeyed, the first floor actually a mezzanine with a large central opening through to the ground floor, and the southern half is single storeyed. The façade of the two storey part has a strong Spanish Mission flavour – seen in particular in the three tall central windows with semi-circular headed openings, with twisted ‘barley sugar’ columns between, and in a stepped parapet with Cordova tile capping. A lower parapet out to either side has a decorative trim reminiscent of the Spanish baroque, while two narrow deep-set windows lend a little of the same character. It is a well modulated and balanced façade, enhanced by distinctive period lettering of the name ‘Harvey’s’ and a central flagpole. The southern

21

CT G2/1543, Hawke’s Bay Registry. 22

Peter Shaw and Peter Hallet, Spanish Mission Hastings: Styles of Five Decades, Napier, 1991, p 29. 23

Salmond Architects 1998, 'Harvey's Building: A Conservation Plan (draft)', Hastings District Community Arts Centre Trust, Hastings p.4 24

Ibid. 25

Hastings District Council file information. 26

CT G2/1543, Hawke’s Bay Registry. 27

CT G2/1543, Hawke’s Bay Registry. 28

CT G2/1543, Hawke’s Bay Registry.

Harvey's Building & The Chemist Shop, 106 Russell Street South Inventory Number: 16; Property ID: 24156 and 25902; TRIM Reference: 25902#002#0004 Report by Michael Kelly / Chris Cochran, August 2007; Final Audit 19 November 2009; Update by Russell Murray August 2012, Updated 2015 by the HDC Environmental Policy Team

Page 6

part of the building reads as a separate structure, with the parapet at a lower level and the plainest of finishes; an ornamental shield breaks the flat line of the parapet. The verandah fascia lines through, tying the two parts of the building together.

For a building of modest size, the main interior space is a spacious one, two storeys high with the mezzanine floor encircling all sides. Opposite the entrance doors, a generous stair leads up to this level. The space is well lit, with the large front façade windows, a narrow band of clerestorey lighting on the long sides, and an art deco-inspired light in the ceiling with a jazzy geometric design in coloured and textured glass. (Another large window at the head of the stairs has been closed over.) The structural columns at the inner edge of the mezzanine floor are exposed through to the roof level, forming a strong arcade down both sides of the space. Built as a retail outlet, the space functions well today as an art exhibition venue.

The two principle retail spaces of the Harvey’s Building are clearly and somewhat unusually separated by elevational treatment into greater and lesser buildings. The single storey Chemist Shop is distinctly much less elaborate than the main two-storeyed part of Harvey’s Building.29 Nevertheless some effort was made to unite the two elevations at street level, including a continuous verandah30 with an elegantly paneled soffit that runs the length of both façades and thin terrazzo wall paneling (just 3/8”, or 9 mm thick) that frames the shop-fronts to both parts of the building below the verandah, and incised lines adding some character and a sense of Deco-ish elegance to these elements. Apart from the terrazzo frame, there is nothing visible left of the original shop-front to the Chemist Shop, which has modern aluminium joinery and an asymmetric inset entrance. Above the verandah, the façade appears largely original. This is minimally decorated with a small shield motif at the top centre, and is finished with a flat horizontal parapet with a plain capping.

ELEMENTS OF ARCHITECTURAL IMPORTANCE:

Element Significance

Front façade Architectural, aesthetic

Main interior space Architectural, aesthetic

Art deco ceiling light Aesthetic

Concrete structure Technical

Terrazzo façade paneling, verandah soffit Aesthetic

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES:

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

Certificates of Title, Hawke’s Bay Registry: G2/1453, 14/277.

Di Stewart and Associates & Salmond Architects, ‘Hastings Municipal Buildings: A Conservation Plan Prepared for the Hastings District Council’, June 1998, p 13.

29

Salmond Architects 1998, 'Harvey's Building: A Conservation Plan (draft)', Hastings District Community Arts Centre Trust, Hastings p.4 30

Ibid.

Harvey's Building & The Chemist Shop, 106 Russell Street South Inventory Number: 16; Property ID: 24156 and 25902; TRIM Reference: 25902#002#0004 Report by Michael Kelly / Chris Cochran, August 2007; Final Audit 19 November 2009; Update by Russell Murray August 2012, Updated 2015 by the HDC Environmental Policy Team

Page 7

Hastings District Council file information. Salmond Architects 1998, 'Harvey's Building: A Conservation Plan', Hastings District Community Arts Centre Trust, Hastings

Shaw P. and Hallett P. 1991, Spanish Mission Hastings: Styles of Five Decades, Napier, 1991 Wises Street Directories, 1925 to 1959-60. HDC Permit records: “Business premises in Russell St, Messrs Harvey Bros.”, A Garnett Registered Architect, 21.8.1933

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION:

NZHPT Register: Both buildings are part of the Hastings Historic Area (Register No. 7020). The buildings are not individually listed with the NZHPT.

District Plan: Both buildings are located within the Hastings Historic Area, Operative Hastings District Plan (Plan declared operative on the 10th June 2003). Both buildings are located within the Central Character Precinct. In the Proposed Hastings District Plan, 2015, the Harvey’s building is listed as a Category II Heritage Item (HB88). The two buildings (Harvey’s Building and the Chemist shop) are located within the Russell Street Historic Area and the Central Character Precinct under the Proposed District Plan.

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.

OTHER PHOTOGRAPHS:

Harvey's Building & The Chemist Shop, 106 Russell Street South Inventory Number: 16; Property ID: 24156 and 25902; TRIM Reference: 25902#002#0004 Report by Michael Kelly / Chris Cochran, August 2007; Final Audit 19 November 2009; Update by Russell Murray August 2012, Updated 2015 by the HDC Environmental Policy Team

Page 8

Interior lay-light with geometric stained glass, 2012

Harvey's Building & The Chemist Shop, 106 Russell Street South Inventory Number: 16; Property ID: 24156 and 25902; TRIM Reference: 25902#002#0004 Report by Michael Kelly / Chris Cochran, August 2007; Final Audit 19 November 2009; Update by Russell Murray August 2012, Updated 2015 by the HDC Environmental Policy Team

Page 9

ARCHIVE PLAN(S):

Business premises in Russell Street, Hastings, for Messrs Harvey Bros., by A. Garnett (1933) (TRIM Ref: 24156#009)

Harvey's Building & The Chemist Shop, 106 Russell Street South Inventory Number: 16; Property ID: 24156 and 25902; TRIM Reference: 25902#002#0004 Report by Michael Kelly / Chris Cochran, August 2007; Final Audit 19 November 2009; Update by Russell Murray August 2012, Updated 2015 by the HDC Environmental Policy Team

Page 10

Harvey's Building & The Chemist Shop, 106 Russell Street South Inventory Number: 16; Property ID: 24156 and 25902; TRIM Reference: 25902#002#0004 Report by Michael Kelly / Chris Cochran, August 2007; Final Audit 19 November 2009; Update by Russell Murray August 2012, Updated 2015 by the HDC Environmental Policy Team

Page 11

Harvey's Building & The Chemist Shop, 106 Russell Street South Inventory Number: 16; Property ID: 24156 and 25902; TRIM Reference: 25902#002#0004 Report by Michael Kelly / Chris Cochran, August 2007; Final Audit 19 November 2009; Update by Russell Murray August 2012, Updated 2015 by the HDC Environmental Policy Team

Page 12

Harvey's Building & The Chemist Shop, 106 Russell Street South Inventory Number: 16; Property ID: 24156 and 25902; TRIM Reference: 25902#002#0004 Report by Michael Kelly / Chris Cochran, August 2007; Final Audit 19 November 2009; Update by Russell Murray August 2012, Updated 2015 by the HDC Environmental Policy Team

Page 13