How this tiny quake-hit city transformed into an architectural jewel
It was once remarked, some time ago in fact, that nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.
But here in Napier, New Zealand, it’s so palpably in abundance that they could bottle it, in, of course, a brightly coloured, art deco vessel.
Napier - where art deco rules.Credit: iStock
I’ve arrived here myself in a vessel, and a considerably more contemporary one at that, namely Silver Muse, a luxury passenger ship on a fortnight-long voyage between Auckland and Sydney, via the eastern coasts of New Zealand and Tasmania.
I’m in Napier on a shore excursion from the ship operated by the venerable Art Deco Trust.
It’s an appropriately vintage car tour of the city, set on the east coast of the North Island about four hours by road north of the capital, Wellington.
Stylised lettering.Credit: Alamy
Napier, it occurs to me, is one of those “what if” kind of places.
What if it hadn’t been subject to the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that befell it on February 3, 1931, resulting in the deaths of 161 citizens, only slightly fewer than the number of fatalities in Christchurch in 2011.
If Napier hadn’t suffered such destruction it would never have become a self-styled art deco architecture capital and I wouldn’t be comfortably ensconced in the upholstered back seat of an emerald-green Packard automobile.
Soon after that 1931 quake – the highest magnitude in New Zealand recorded history – it was decided to rebuild the rubble-strewn city in the prevailing architectural style of the times, namely art deco, and a sizeable number of the post-quake buildings and houses constructed in the 1930s are still standing.
If all of those events had not conspired, Napier may have remained another pleasant, if unremarkable, small New Zealand coastal city that modern-day cruise liners, such as Silver Muse, may have sailed by.
Wheels of choice … the Art Deco Trust’s vintage Packard.Credit: Alamy
But it then took a full half-a-century before anyone realised what an architectural jewel Napier represented and the potential it had for tourism to become a major industry for the city.
Back in my transport of delight, the vehicle employed for the tour is one part of an exquisitely restored and maintained fleet of 1930s-era, American-built Packard operated by the Art Deco Trust.
Frankly, if you go to Napier it’s the only way to go, especially with your chauffeur being one of the trust’s own volunteers attired, to complete the effect, in a full art deco ensemble, vintage flapper hat included.
The tour includes a tiki tour (Kiwi for a bit of a jaunt) in the Packard, from the wharf where Silver Muse is berthed, to around the city’s key art deco sights, with the first stop being the headquarters of the National Tobacco Company, designed by Louis Hay in 1932.
It competes in art deco splendour with the centrally located The Daily Telegraph building from the same year as well as the Masonic Hotel, where the Royal Suite in which Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip stayed during their 1954 coronation tour has been preserved.
Marewa … the suburbs of Napier are no less stylish.Credit: Alamy
A few kilometres or so from the city centre is a stunning art deco suburban enclave. Marewa, dating to 1934, features many immaculately preserved examples of art moderne-style housing.
There’s another Napier “what if” that emerges when I visit the city on foot led by an Art Deco Trust guide.
It’s the modern-day scourge of visual pollution, something commonplace on the opposite side of the Tasman as well, namely uncontrolled and unregulated shop and business signage.
Most of the city was rebuilt after the 1931 quake.Credit: iStock
Its pervasiveness spoils not only the aesthetic – and dare one add, the Insta impact – of many of the city’s art deco buildings, but also their integrity.
It may be one of the reasons that Napier’s bid for UNESCO World Heritage listing in 2011 was rejected.
UNESCO stated that Napier could be compared to several other art deco towns of the same era, such as Miami Beach and Santa Barbara in the US, Bandung, Indonesia and Asmara, Eritrea.
However, “none surpass” the New Zealand city “in style and coherence”.
Indeed, perhaps in nostalgia, for Napier at least, despite all those garish hoardings, really is a little like it used to be.
THE DETAILS
Cruise
A 14-day Auckland to Sydney cruise with Silversea aboard Silver Muse from $9350 a passenger. Book the art deco shore excursion before departure. See silversea.com
Stay
For pre-cruise accommodation, consider the 99-room The Hotel Britomart. This boutique-style, eco-minded lodgings is within walking distance of Auckland’s Princess Wharf cruise terminal. See thehotelbritomart.com
More
The writer travelled as a guest of Silversea Cruises and The Hotel Britomart Auckland.
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