Cheerio to Deco

It's the final day of the Art Deco Weekend and the proceedings are starting to wind down for this year's celebrations. However, there's still plenty on offer to round off the biggest event in the Hawke's Bay calendar.

To start off the day we walked round the corner of our hostel to the Masonic Hotel, as this was the starting line for the Soap Box Derby. This is an annual event where home-made carts race down Tennyson St for personal glory! There was a whole variety of racers including a wine bottle shaped cart, a steam engine (with liquid nitrogen steam), Brum from the children's TV series, Gertie the Truck, an army Jeep, plus many other streamlined racers. It was all done in good spirit and the event drew in a huge crowd who lined both sides of Tennyson St - it kind of reminded me of the episode of The Simpsons, Saturdays of Thunder with a similar Soap Box Derby race. There was even a parade at the end for all the racers to showcase their home-made efforts.

It's a fine line between success and failure!

This soap box racer was so fast it was just a mere blur!

Moving on to the next scheduled event of the day, we headed over to the Colonnade for the Veronica Bell Parade. At the Veronica Sunbay, the bell from the HMS Veronica is installed with a fully military ceremony to commemorate the efforts of the navy during the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. This was an especially poignant reminder in light of the first anniversary of the Christchurch earthquake. The bell is rung to herald the conclusion of the Art Deco Weekend and is guarded by the Sea Scouts until it is taken to Waiapu Anglican Cathedral later on during the day.

The bell from HMS Veronica hanging from the Sunbay

Outside the i-SITE visitor centre, the Hawke's Bay Vintage Car Club were collecting donations in exchange for a car ride. It would have been rude not have taken up the opportunity so we took a short ride down the Marine Parade in a luxury Packard. Lizzie got to ride shotgun whilst I had the back all to myself. It was a smooth ride with the wind in your face and the driver called his Packard "an American Rolls Royce" and claimed it was "better than a Buick!".

This one's for you Austin!

The gauntlet had been thrown down for a rematch on the Par 2 Mini Golf after my victory yesterday. This time Deco Drive would be the course to tee-off on. It was much more challenging as it got the better of me and Lizzie was handed victory by a clear 12 strokes! It was a bitter pill to swallow.

Hole in one!

The undisputed winner of Deco Drive

Walking back through the parade we caught the very end of the Gatsby Picnic with the various themed gazebos on the Marine Parade Gardens. However, the celebrations were all winding down for this year but as with anything, all good things must come to an end...

The Pania of the Reef statue at the start of the Gatsby Picnic

 

That's all folks!

The sun sets on another Art Deco Weekend, until next year

Deco Delights

Waking up to the soft sound of a jazz trumpet in the distance, I knew I was still in the 1930s, well at least for the weekend. For the second day of the Art Deco Weekend the plan was to head over to the seaside village of Ahuriri (the original Māori name for what is now Napier), to see what I personally believe is the jewel of Napier - the National Tobacco Company Building (1933). Walking along Breakwater Road, we passed the port area of Napier and into the historic quayside suburb of Ahuriri to see arguably one of New Zealand's most lavish buildings.

Boats sailing along the coast

The harbourside at Ahuriri

View of the Union Hotel looking down of Waghorne St

During the Great Depression the National Tobacco Company produced only pipe and cigarette tobacco, not cigarettes so it was able to sell it's products at affordable prices and this is the reason why Gerhard Husheer, the owner of the company, could afford such an extravagent administration building.

The National Tobacco Company Building is one of Louis Hay's finest and best preserved buildings

The design combines elements of Chicago School, Art Deco and Art Noveau

The exterior of the building is decorated with roses and grapevines and the theme is continued inside the building with stucco roses on the pillars and fruit in the leadlight windows and foyer ceiling dome. The elaborate carved wooden doors are reputed to have cost £600, back in the day when an average working man's annual wage was £100!

Ornate brass lamp at the entrance

Stucco panels featuring roses and raupō

The large leadlight glass dome in the foyer

Roses combined with oranges feature in the leadlight windows

The elegant and luxurious foyer features marble panelling and carved oak

Walking back into town along the foreshore, we saw the RNZAF Red Checkers (the New Zealand equivalent of the Red Arrows) performing more daredevil stunts over the skies of the city.

To get in the mood of the day we changed into our Deco outfits (inspired a little from all the episodes of Boardwalk Empire we've been watching recently!) before catching the Bathing Belles event at the Sound Shell. There was an array of bathing costumes and even a couple of men got in on the act!

The New Napier Arch at the Colonnade

The Bathing Belles (and blokes) event at the Sound Shell

Next on our list of things to do was to play a round on the Par 2 Mini Golf course. All players with Art Deco attire received a discount so it had to be done. It took all my skill but I just managed to beat Lizzie on the Pacific Pro-Am course, obviously I was a gracious winner!

The water hazard at hole 14

Hats off to the winner!

For the evening, we split our time between the Twilight Toe Tap and the Saturday Night at the Shell events. The Twilight Toe Tap was street jazz at it's best on Emerson Street outside the Spanish-style Criterion Hotel (1932). There were all styles of dances from tangos to foxtrots, essentially anything goes and anyone was welcome to join in. I even had a couple of dances with Lizzie, although we were put to shame by everyone else!

The jazz band at Market St

Dancing the night away outside the Criterion Hotel

Over at the Sound Shell, the Royal New Zealand Navy Band were preforming on the stage. It was a good way to relax in the Colonnade with a cup of hot chocolate for the evening...

A crowd walking up Emerson St towards Marine Parade

Vintage Bentley car outside the Masonic Hotel

A day of Decodance

Napier is a small city located in Hawke's Bay on the eastern coast of the North Island. This region is renowned for it's Mediterranean-style climate (enjoying some of the highest number of sunshine hours in New Zealand) and producing some of the world's finest wineries, as well as being New Zealand's largest apple, pear and stone fruit producer. However, it's that the events that took place on 3^rd February 1931, which have largely defined Napier as the self-proclaimed "Art Deco Capital of the World". It was on this day that a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake known as the Hawke's Bay Earthquake claimed 258 lives, making it New Zealand's greatest natural disaster.

The mosaic designed by local artist, Liz Earth incorporates the poster of the 1933 New Napier Carnival

The city was quickly rebuilt in the Art Deco style (including Stripped Classical, Spanish Mission and Chicago School styles) as this was the popular style of the time and as a result Napier has the largest concentration of Art Deco buildings in the Southern Hemisphere, even rivalling the South Beach area of Miami. What makes the architecture in Napier so captivating is the use of Maori design elements and motifs, which are found nowhere else in New Zealand.

This year is the 81^stanniversary of the Hawke's Bay Earthquake and the 24^th Art Deco Weekend, which is one of the largest events of its type in New Zealand. It is also the 75^th anniversary of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), hence the theme "A Tribute to Aviation.

With the Art Deco Weekend in full swing we took part in one of the Art Deco Trust's guided tours called "Deep in the Art of Deco Walk". This was a unique opportunity to explore Napier's Art Deco interiors to learn about some of the best-kept secrets. The walk was two hours long and took us inside ten buildings which aren't normally accessible to the public. Starting off at the Prairie style Clive Square Community Centre (1925) we walked down to the Municipal Theatre (1938) to check out the foyer area, followed by the mezzanine of the Daily Telegraph Building (1932).

The neon lighting in the Municipal Theatre is reminiscent of the Hollywood era

The light fittings in the Daily Telegraph Building are replicas of the originals

View looking up in the foyer area to the mezzanine floor

We then visited the recently restored Harton's Building (1932) is one of two buildings in Napier with barley twisted columns, and the 1935 extension of the Edwardian-style County Hotel added to the western half of building. The County Hotel is now the only example of a Victorian-Edwardian classical style building that survived the devastating 1931 earthquake.

The internal leadlights of the County Hotel are a mixture of Art Noveau and Deco-eqsue shapes

The grand piano in the lobby area of the original 5 star hotel in Napier

The original Edwardian exterior of the hotel

The Spanish Mission style Hartson's Building was designed by E.A.Williams

This is considered one of the finest shop fronts in Napier

The building has always been a music shop and was once owned by Neville Hartson

Rounding off the tour we saw the impressive Louis Sullivan inspired old AMP Building (1934), the Stripped Classical Former Government Buildings (1938), the Maori decorated ASB Bank (1932) - apparently this is one of the best examples of a European-use building of Maori design. The final buildings were two office buildings, the first being Devon House (1934), which was designed by the famous Auckland architects, Gummer, Ford, Hoadley & Budge, as well as the enchanting glass dome in the Sainsbury, Logan & Williams Building (1932).

Hanging light fitting in the Old AMP Building

The safe to the Old AMP Building which is now the New Zealand Wine Centre

Heavy bolts indicated an early form of "Constructivism" in the Former Government Buildings

The Stripped Classical entrance

 

The external parapet of the ASB Bank has an authentic Whakairo design

The impressive coffered ceiling is bordered by a Kowhaiwhai design

In corner of the ceiling panels are Taiahas (spearheads)

Etched glass Art Deco design in the doors of Devon House

The building's glass ceiling was revealed after it was refurbished in the mid 1990s

Foyer area with additional mezzanine floor

Sainsbury, Logan & Williams Building has always been the offices of Hawke's Bay oldest legal firm

The glass dome in all its glory

More photos of the various Art Deco buildings around Napier from our original trip can be found my flickr photostream on the following link.
 
Throughout the streets there were lots of people dressed up in the 1930s style to get in the mood for the weekend and there were plenty of vintage cars on show. There were all sorts of makes and models pre-dating 1946 including Fords, Buicks, Chryslers, Jaguars, Plymouths, Rolls Royces, plus many others. It's possibly the greatest number of classic cars I've ever since all in one place.

A vintage Rolls Royce

A dapper gentlemen admiring a classic Austin car

A Chrysler hood ornament similar to the ones found on the Chrysler Building in New York

Possibly one of the most famous Art Deco buildings in the world, the Chrysler Building

Later on during the day we caught some of the flying display where some classic war planes thundered through the sky above the Sound Shell performing a variety of death-defying stunts. More impressively was the navy helicopter circling around in front of the Veronica Sunbay - at one point someone from the helicopter was winched down and flown around above the ocean!

The RNZAF Red Checkers were thrilling crowds above the Colonnade

Some impressive helicopter manoeuvres in front of the Veronica Sunbay

The real highlight of the evening was the Big Sounds Tonight event at the Sound Shell. As the sun was setting over Hawkes Bay, the Hawke's Bay Jazz Club Big Band we're playing all the hits from 1930s to a decent size crowd in the Colonnade. People were dancing at the front of the Sound Shell and plenty of others brought folding chairs to get a decent view of the stage.

Hawke's Bay Jazz Club Big Band on the Sound Shell

In the interval we had time to check out a World War II search light down by the main beach and to take some pictures of the colourful Tom Parker fountain as it was providing a visual spectacle with it's lights and water jets display.

Lizzie by the World War II searchlight

The enchanting Tom Parker Fountain