Positioned on the mouth of the Whanganui River — the nation’s longest navigable waterway — Whanganui has lengthy benefited from each the abundance of the coast and the commerce arising from its big hinterland. The realm is the ancestral house of Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi and Whanganui Māori tribes. Pūtiki Pā — a key web site of occupation on what’s now the method to town — stays the placement of a longtime marae and noteworthy Māori church. In 1840, Pūtiki started internet hosting a Church Missionary Society station. In the identical 12 months, the New Zealand Firm started settling throughout the river from Pūtiki, its second settlement after Wellington. Disputes over land offers abounded — the Crown successfully repurchased the New Zealand Firm’s block eight years later, acknowledging the deal’s flaws — and Whanganui was a key locus within the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s. The sample of land alienation continued, with the occupation of Moutoa Gardens within the centre of town in 1995, returning native grievances to the nationwide highlight.
Within the metropolis, a protracted interval of progress from the 1840s to the late Twenties left the city with a exceptional assortment of Victorian and Edwardian buildings. Progress was interrupted by the Despair however the wool increase sparked by the Korean Struggle returned prosperity to town. As in different centres strongly linked to agriculture (consider Christchurch, for instance), this increase underwrote each revolutionary practices and thrilling buildings. The town’s most eye-catching constructing, the Struggle Memorial Corridor, dates from this expansive interval of civic constructing within the Nineteen Sixties. The nation’s most exceptional instance of Worldwide Fashion modernism and nonetheless remarkably recent, it hovers alongside the sting of a civic sq. — so startling a imaginative and prescient in its provincial context, it appears the outpost of a distant civilisation.
Not like many regional centres the place key tasks have been scooped up by out-of-towners, Whanganui has — seemingly consequently of town’s regular prosperity — served as one thing of an incubator for architectural expertise, producing hyperlinks that spanned the nation. Born in 1850, Alfred Atkins frolicked in partnership with Wellington maestro Frederick de Jersey Clere. He then shaped Atkins & Bacon, and later Atkins & Mitchell, with the ultimately Wellington-based apply surviving beneath numerous monikers via to the Nineties. Charles Reginald Ford practised for a decade in Whanganui earlier than happening to affix William Gummer in forming the nationally dominant agency of the Nineteen Thirties and Nineteen Forties. (Gummer married right into a distinguished Whanganui farming household the identical 12 months the partnership shaped.) Don Wilson, a gifted modernist who minimize quick his architectural profession, was an area, as was Michael Payne, greatest identified for his Geyser Room at EXPO ’70 in Osaka, Japan. Dickson Lonergan Architects and architect-turned-academic Mark Southcombe produced thrilling work both facet of the millennium.
In more moderen years, an revolutionary native home referred to as Dogbox was the place to begin for 2 rising younger practices now based mostly in Wellington — Patchwork Structure and Spacecraft Architects.
The town remains to be intact and thriving. After the Napier earthquake in 1931, as in lots of locations, older buildings had been shorn of seismically susceptible stone pediments and towers, giving inner-city streetscapes a barely clipped feeling. Huge-box retail has, mercifully, remained on the periphery, demolitions have been uncommon, and the Predominant Avenue organisation and heritage champion Helen Craig has ensured the principle road is a horny place to spend time. The ensuing urbane vibe and the provision of spacious inner-city premises have made town a scorching mattress for crafts and humanities. With the upcoming Sarjeant Gallery enlargement set to turbocharge the cultural scene — it’s already a UNESCO Metropolis of Design — Whanganui demonstrates that ongoing architectural sophistication needn’t be confined to our massive cities.
THE ITINERARY
1. 1900 – Royal Whanganui Opera Home
69 St Hill Avenue George C Stevenson
Meant to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, this venture was initiated with a nationwide competitors. It was gained by Wellington architect George Stevenson, who had labored within the Public Works Division beneath John Campbell, although Stevenson died, aged simply 42, not lengthy after development started in 1899. Accomplished in lower than a 12 months, the constructing represented many inventions, together with being the primary municipally owned theatre within the nation and the primary theatre to have electrical lights, powered by a gas-fired generator positioned within the constructing. The constructing is assessed by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (HNZPT) as Class 1.
2. 1902 – Publish & Telegraph Workplace
51 Victoria Avenue John Campbell, Authorities Architect
Throughout his time period as Authorities Architect, Campbell designed authorities buildings within the Edwardian baroque model, of which this constructing stays essentially the most spectacular in Whanganui. Regardless of having its clock tower eliminated after the Napier earthquake, its grandeur endures. After the phone change left in 1923 and a brand new Chief Publish Workplace at Ridgway Avenue was inbuilt 1940, the constructing served as authorities places of work from 1955 to 1990. Right this moment, solely the ground-floor restaurant is accessible. Campbell followers may also take a look at the previous Native Land Court docket and Aotea Māori Land Board Constructing (1922) at 11 Rutland Avenue. It’s wanting unloved however a restoration venture is ready to start this 12 months.
3. 1912–1919 — Whanganui Collegiate College
128–132 Liverpool Avenue Numerous
The campus sports activities a singular assortment of Twentieth-century architectural kinds. Atkins and Bacon’s buildings, together with Huge College (1911), showcased the pink brick, stucco exteriors and tile roofs of the English home model. This model continued in later additions like Charles Reginald Ford’s Cricket Pavilion (1917). Modernist contributions embody the Science Block (1967) by Don Wilson and Eddie Belchambers, and the Prince Edward Auditorium (1984) by Warren and Mahoney. Dickson Elliot Lonergan’s remodeling of William Grey Younger’s 1912 chapel earned an NZIA Nationwide Award in 1988, and RTA Studio has added necessary latest tasks. Refer Structure NZ July/August 1988 and Sept/Oct 2019.
4. 1919, 2024 – Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua
Queen’s Park, Cameron Terrace Edmund Anscombe & Associates, Warren and Mahoney
The nationwide competitors for a brand new artwork gallery was gained by Donald Hosie, a teenager articled to the Dunedin-based agency of Edmund Anscombe & Associates. Hosie was killed whereas combating in France, and the venture was accomplished by Anscombe. Hosie’s solely work, it adhered to a classical model as per the competitors’s temporary. It additionally built-in the revolutionary ‘High-Aspect-Lighted’ methodology of gallery illumination advocated by Christchurch architect Samuel Hurst Seager, the competitors decide. The gallery is present process redevelopment by Warren and Mahoney, preserving the unique construction whereas including an extension, set to open this 12 months. Refer NZ Architect (5) 1985.
5. 1921 – Former Central Fireplace Station
139 Guyton Avenue Ford and Talboys
This was Whanganui’s first station for a everlasting hearth brigade, marking a big milestone within the growth of town’s Fireplace Service. The constructing was designed by Charles Reginald Ford, who started apply in Whanganui in 1913, whereas he was in partnership with Robert Talboys (1919 to 1923). The constructing served as the hearth station till 1981, when the Fireplace Service moved to Maria Place, the place it’s nonetheless positioned. The outside remains to be in wonderful situation; the inside, which retains many heritage options, is now house to a wide range of companies.
6. 1928 – Whanganui Regional Museum
Pukenamu Queen’s Park, Watt Avenue R G Talboys & Associates
Talboys continued his work in Whanganui after the Ford & Talboys partnership ended. Serving to to kind the civic nexus of Whanganui, which incorporates the Sarjeant Gallery, Struggle Memorial Corridor, Alexander Library, Cenotaph and Veterans’ Steps, the Whanganui Regional Museum is a key native instance of stripped classicism. This model was in style for civic buildings following the First World Struggle, representing the return to custom and as a logo of stability after a interval of turmoil. Dalgleish Architects acquired an NZIA Native Award in 2023 for its vibrant Whanganui Mūmū — Whanganui By Design exhibit on the mezzanine.
7. 1930 – Nationwide Financial institution of New Zealand
98 Victoria Avenue Atkins & Mitchell
The Nationwide Financial institution’s earlier premises, inbuilt 1902, had been designed by Atkins & Mitchell. Nonetheless, the dying of Atkins in 1919 left Mitchell because the agency’s sole associate and designer of the 98 Victoria Avenue premises. With the Despair at its peak, the financial institution’s classical model was seen as a beacon of prosperity throughout tough occasions. Mitchell would go on to provide the 1937 Central Fireplace Station in Wellington. Banking fanatics must also go to Crichton & McKay’s former Financial institution of New South Wales (1927) at 39–41 Victoria Avenue and Joshua Charlesworth’s former Financial institution of New Zealand (1906) at 26 Victoria Avenue.
8. 1937 – St Paul’s Memorial Church
6 Te Anaua Avenue, Pūtiki Arthur J Cutler
This venture, testomony to the lengthy Anglican involvement at Pūtiki, was the synthesis of conventional Māori inside ornament with a comparatively plain neo-Gothic architectural kind that adopted European patterns. Notably, the inside tukutuku panels and kōwhaiwhai, usually related to Māori wharenui, determine the church as a Christian Māori assembly home. Sir Āpirana Ngata performed an important position within the venture: a part of his effort to revive conventional Māori data and expression. A corridor, inbuilt 1953, options revolutionary inside ornament by artist Dr Cliff Whiting. Excursions might be booked at isite (see itemizing 14).
9. 1960 – Struggle Memorial Corridor
Pukenamu Queen’s Park, Watt Avenue Greenhough, Smith and Newman
Opened on Anzac Day 1960, the Struggle Memorial Corridor was described by Julia Gatley as “maybe New Zealand’s fullest, and best, public expression of mid-century worldwide Modernism”. The profitable design of the 1956 competitors, this work by younger Kiwi architects resident in London, inserted the Worldwide Fashion into the New Zealand context, articulated within the type of a floating white field resting on slender round pilotis. Its prismatic kind contrasts starkly with the classicism of the Whanganui Regional Museum and Sarjeant Gallery. The venture was awarded the NZIA Gold Medal in 1961 and an NZIA 25 Yr Award in 1998.
10. 1963 – Authorities Life Constructing
72–80 Guyton Avenue Don Wilson, Architect
Timing is important in structure, and Wilson was a part of the era of younger modernists whose careers had been boosted by the post-war constructing increase. He studied within the Nineteen Fifties as a Fulbright Scholar on the Illinois Institute of Expertise throughout Mies van der Rohe’s tenure there. Standing on a distinguished nook web site, the Authorities Life Constructing was initially designed in 1957, and Wilson organized his scholarship to review then-current development strategies. Returning to Whanganui, Wilson accomplished the technically adventurous venture, which features a notably revolutionary curtain wall design. Mark Southcombe’s article on Don Wilson, out there on-line, is price in search of out.
11. 1968 – Whanganui Metropolis Council Buildings
101 Guyton Avenue Wilson, Belchambers, Low & Associates
Eddie Belchambers, the venture architect for this constructing, had entered Wilson’s agency within the Nineteen Fifties as an assistant. His scheme positioned the low-rise Council Chamber — supposed to narrate to the Struggle Memorial Corridor — on the nook, with administrative places of work in a four-storey slab operating alongside the road. Nonetheless in wonderful situation, the venture acquired an NZIA Native Enduring Award in 2004. Exasperated with the difficulties of architectural apply, Wilson modified profession in 1970, however followers may also take a look at his additions to the Whanganui Regional Museum (see itemizing 6), accomplished in 1968. The agency continued efficiently into the Nineteen Eighties.
12. 1981 – Whanganui Departmental Constructing
133 Wicksteed Avenue Ministry of Works and Improvement
Produced by Ministry of Works and Improvement venture architect Tony Baker beneath Authorities Architect Graydon Miskimmin, this venture units apart the tower kind typical of presidency buildings in favour of the terraced kind. This human-scaled constructing was supposed to take a seat extra comfortably in its low-density context and to loosen up the institutional working setting. Planting on the terraces, which has come and gone over time, helped with this softening. Nonetheless, the mix of uncovered cross braces — an revolutionary structural resolution which opened up inner planning — and heavy roofs finally made it one of many hardest expressions of brutalism in Aotearoa New Zealand.
13. 2008 – Henry D Bennett Constructing
28 Taupo Quay Designgroup Stapleton Elliott and Dickson Lonergan Architects
Inbuilt 1926 by Christchurch-based architects Sidney and Alfred Luttrell, this is without doubt one of the largest buildings in Whanganui. Now occupied by UCOL Whanganui, the renovation venture earned its architects an NZIA Native Award in 2009. The jury wrote: “A delicate re-working/recycling has injected new life into this heritage constructing. Trendy companies have been included whereas the historic options of the coaching institute’s exterior pores and skin and easy, sincere construction have been rigorously maintained and upgraded. Structural strengthening, new accessible ramps, inner detailing and the enhancement of the Artwork Deco façade have been executed by a talented, caring architect.”
14. 2009 – Whanganui isite
31 Taupo Quay VOID Structure Analysis Urbanism
Standing on the riverfront not removed from the City Wharf, this constructing was initially accomplished in 1895 as a warehouse for James Thain & Co., an necessary regional import firm specialising in ironmongery and {hardware}. The agency would later develop a big new constructing — by native architect Thomas James — on a really distinguished web site on the finish of the Victoria Avenue Bridge. This was lately demolished following a hearth. Mark Southcombe executed a sympathetic adaptation of Thain’s Warehouse in 2009, involving the insertion of a café, gallery and isite customer info centre, incomes an NZIA Native Award in 2011.
Different addresses
1891 – Fireplace Watchtower Cooks Gardens, 99 St Hill Avenue Alfred Atkins
1913 – St Paul’s Presbyterian Church 112 Guyton Avenue William Grey Younger An early solo work by the eminent Wellington architect.
1930 – Girls’ Relaxation 75 St Hill Avenue Thomas Battle
1933 – Alexander Heritage & Analysis Library – Te Rerenga Mai o Te Kāuru Pukenamu Queen’s Park, 1 Pukenamu Drive Hood & Duffell Strengthened and restored by Bruce Dickson in latest years.
1940 – Former Chief Publish Workplace 60 Ridgway Avenue R G Talboys & Associates Notable for stripped classical ornament that features Māori motifs.
1957 – Former Energy Board Workplaces 151 St Hill Avenue Clifford Newton Hood with Francis Willis
1975 – Wairere Home 1 Bates Avenue Works Consultancy In 1982, when this constructing was notorious because the Wanganui Pc Centre, anarchist Neil Roberts blew himself up exterior in protest on the police’s ‘Huge Brother’ system.
1975–2003 – Quaker Settlement 76 Virginia Highway Michael Payne Elements of the advanced might be booked for occasions or lodging.
SOURCES
For a normal historical past of Whanganui, we propose Maxwell Good and Arthur Bates’ The Wanganui Story (Whanganui: Wanganui Newspapers, 1973). Some key historic buildings within the space are included in Historic Buildings of New Zealand: North Island (Auckland: Cassell, 1979). Most of the more moderen tasks on this information are included in Julia Gatley’s Lengthy Dwell the Trendy (Auckland: Auckland College Press, 2008), and a number of other function in Peter Shaw’s New Zealand Structure: From Polynesian Beginnings to 1990 (Auckland: Hodder & Stoughton, 1991). Mark Southcombe, a previously Whanganui-based architect now educating at Victoria College of Wellington, has written extensively on Whanganui’s architectural historical past; a lot of his writing is now out there on-line.
The Itinerary sequence is supported by Dulux Colors of New Zealand. Dulux Color Specialist Davina Harper has chosen a Colors of New Zealand palette based mostly on this itinerary. See the complete vary and order color samples right here.
