Changing Tauranga CBD - Part 2

My July post, which shared images of city centre buildings demolished in the past year, received a comment that it was hoped I had more photographs capturing changes around town over the last decade. Fortunately, I can oblige and for this post I thought it would be interesting to add an ‘after’ photo as well. I have enough images for a couple of posts so watch this space.

001 Fiona Kean, 11 October 2016, Private Collection

This photograph, taken from the top floor of Harrington House in October 2016, shows the cleared site of 15-17 Harington Street. Aspen Park, sometimes referred to as Aspen Reserve, is visible to the rear of the site.

002 Fiona Kean, 26 August 2016, Private Collection

Prior to demolition this villa, which occupied 15 Harington Street, was a bar and nightclub. At one time it was also described as a casino. Although the construction date of this villa is not known it does appear on a survey map of the town completed in 1934 by G. Duncan. This photograph, taken in late August 2016, shows the demolition process underway.

003 Fiona Kean, 16 October 2019, Private Collection

This photograph is of a portion of the new building that occupies 15 Harington Street. The building is known as ‘The Reserve’, a nod to the park behind. The tree to the right of villa, visible in previous image, gives a sense of scale between the old and new buildings.

004 Fiona Kean, 7 November 2017, Private Collection

This photograph, looking south from the top floor of Harrington House, provides a bird’s-eye view of the final stages of the demolition of Tauranga City Council’s administration building at 91 Willow Street.

005 Fiona Kean, 17 January 2017, Private Collection

This photograph of the Tauranga City Council’s former administration building was taken on the corner of Willow and Hamilton Streets in January 2017. The 30 000 square ft building took 17 months to construct and was opened in 1972. Demolition began in October 2017.

006 Fiona Kean, 16 October 2019, Private Collection

Described as a ‘container city’, Our Place, a temporary retail, hospitality and entertainment space now occupies the site.

The Yorkshire Grey Hotel

The Yorkshire Grey Hotel, Cameron Road (looking south), Tauranga
Auckland Library Sir George Grey Collection Ref. 3-Album-45-27

The recent discovery of a photograph in the Auckland Libraries collection by Steve Vergeest and Fiona Kean is a windfall for local Tauranga history. Local historians had been under the impression that there were no photographs of the hotel that stood on the west side of Cameron road on the corner of 6th Avenue. In fact A C Bellamy, editor of "Tauranga 1882-1982: The Centennial of Gazetting Tauranga as a Borough," wrote that in the book as did the late Jinty Rorke, an authority on Tauranga history. B S Corlett designed the hotel and David Lundon built it. The original building that had additions made within a few years was two storied with bar facilities and parlour on the ground floor, and bedrooms and bath upstairs. The Cameron Road frontage measured 55 feet, and 66 feet on 6th Avenue. It was connected to Piercy’s house that had several more rooms and there was a brick cellar on 6th Avenue side where the land sloped away. The stables stood back at the rear.

The owner Mr Hartis Piercy and licensee John Daniel Faulkner, Piercy’s son-in-law, saw the hotel opened on 1 January 1882. The name of the hotel remembered the home county of Hartis Piercy.

A financially secure position for the Yorkshire Grey was never reached and the ownership of the building and the licences frequently changed. Familiar names in early Tauranga followed Piercy and Faulkner: Menzies, Peter Grant, Timothy Kenealy, Thomas Tanner, James Taylor, AB and W Griffiths, John Johnson, and Hancock & Co.  It was Johnson who took the licence to Rotorua to the existing Palace Hotel, and the Yorkshire Grey, Cameron Road, Tauranga ceased to function as a hotel in 1895.

However, during its day the hotel saw a variety of events from accident victims brought in to await the doctor’s visit, attempted suicide, theft of guests’ property and a small fire, perhaps a warning of things to come. Another function of the hotel, this time the stables, was the presentation of stallions for stud purposes. These horses visited all the local towns and stables and the Bay of Plenty Times advertised their presence at the stables of the Yorkshire Grey.

Cameron Road (corner 6th Avenue, looking south), April 2019
Photograph courtesy of Fiona Kean

A race, described as a “match” in the Bay of Plenty Times between Alfred Clayton, a surveyor and Billy Duncan was to be run between Ohinemutu to the Yorkshire Grey “go-as-you-please-“for £50. The betting favoured Duncan and he won half an hour ahead of Clayton. Duncan covered 42 miles in 6 hours 23 minutes. A horse race took place between Mr Harley’s mare ‘Winnie” and Mr John Kennedy’s “Prince” for £20. The horses would leave the Waihi Hotel at 7 a.m. and the winning post was the Yorkshire Grey. It was to be held on the day before the Tauranga races and several coaches were to follow.

The Hospital and Charitable Aid Board proposed to buy the premises to become the Victoria Hospital in 1898, it having stood empty for some years except for its use as venues for various community meetings. However, opposition came from Whakatane and Opotiki who believed that Tauranga would use more than their share of the Board’s funds. There was also talk of removing the building to the hospital reserve. It was, however, only used briefly as a “fever hospital”.

A small private school, Queen’s College, moved into the building in 1898, with the headmaster Mr Jeremiah Murphy and among his pupils Elva Phoebe Brain, who later become a generous benefactor to the Tauranga Historical Society. Mr Murphy died following a fall from the balcony of the building where he resided, most likely the Yorkshire Grey, in 1903. Arthur M Coles succeeded Murphy but he too suffered a sudden death.  While successfully rescuing nine year old Arthur David Padlie from the Waikareao Estuary Coles died in the water. The end came for the Yorkshire Grey when a member of the Fire Brigade set fire to the building. Eighteen year old Arthur David Padlie pleaded guilty setting fire to the Yorkshire Grey in January 1918.

Mount Surf Club

The first Mount Surf Club, c. late 1930s

This is a really interesting photograph of the main Mount Beach. It was taken in the late 1930s and I found it in an old copy of the Auckland Weekly News. Lots of people will recognise the Oceanside Hotel. I did a story about it a while ago. The little building on the sand in front of the hotel is also really interesting. It is the first Mount Surf Club. The Club started in the 1920s. All they had was this building and a rescue reel!

Mount Surf Club, 22 June 2013

This is what the Mount Surf Clubrooms looks like now.  They really have got a lot bigger. I imagine the Mount beach is much busier than used to be and there are a lot of people who need watching!

Tropical Display House, Robbins Park

Tropical Display House, Robbins Park, 1962
Gale Collection, Ref. 1005
Image courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection

This is the Tropical Display House on Cliff Road. I wanted to visit it and take some pictures before it is gone. I read in the paper that it might be going.

Tropical Display House, Robbins Park, 2015
Photo by Charlie Colquhoun

I think it is a shame that it is going. The flowers are interesting and it is a nice place to visit. I looked at the visitor book and people have said good things about it so I think other people will miss it too.

Tropical Display House, Robbins Park, 2015
Photo by Charlie Colquhoun

Court House, Tauranga

Tauranga Court House, 1966
Gale Collection, Ref. 0673
Image courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection

Can you believe that this photograph is taken from nearly the same spot? Take a look at the trees and you can tell that it is. The trees have also changed. The palm tree is still there but is much bigger.

Tauranga Court House, 2015
Photo by Charlie Colquhoun

The new Court House seems really crowded. It is kind of dark. The old Court House looks friendly. I wonder why they changed it?

Adams Cottage, Mt Maunganui

The Adams Cottage, Mt Maunganui, 2015

The Adams Cottage is located in Adams Avenue, Mount Maunganui. Although built as a bach or holiday home for John Cuthbert Adams it is a similar style of many pioneer cottages, having a gable ended simple design in what is known as ‘carpenter gothic’ style. Adams built it as a bach in 1906 when his family lived in Fifth Avenue at Taipororo.  It was said that his daughters could row to the bach faster than he could drive around Welcome Bay to the Mount, the only route at that time.

Adams arrived in Tauranga in 1876 and became a successful builder and later local body politician and mayor. He married Helen Edwards a relative of the wife of Henry Brabant of Maungawhare, the story of which appeared recently in this blog. Ten of their children survived to adulthood and three became school teachers. John Adams was very interested in Maori culture and his collection of artefacts remains in the Tauranga Heritage Collection. He was a member of the Polynesian Society.  He also corresponded with the former soldier Horatio Robley and owned more than a dozen original Robley paintings of Gate Pa and early Tauranga.

The Adams Cottage, Pilot Bay, Mt Maunganui, undated
Image © and courtesy of Tauranga City Library Ref. 01-185

The cottage is near the foreshore at Pilot Bay and originally had a simple plan. Bedrooms opened off the living room and the brick fireplace was double sided providing a means of cooking at the rear. As a bach occupation indoors was not as important as outdoor activities so it served well as a place just to eat and sleep. The construction was of timber and the rooms were lined with timber sarking and the saw marks are still visible on one wall. Additions of a verandah, garage, and large rear living area have been made in more recent years.

Lionel Adams inherited the bach in 1932 and family ownership ended in in 1976 and for ten years it was a private museum. The present owners have had the property since 1985.

Editor's Note (22 Jan 2022): This article previously stated that the "Adams Cottage ... is the oldest building in Mount Maunganui," which has been pointed out is incorrect, and the text has accordingly been amended with the author's permission.

Sources

Historic Houses Vol. 2, Vertical File, Tauranga Library.

Building File. Tauranga City Council.

Cunningham, B. & Musgrove, K.(1989)  A History of Mount Maunganui, pub. Mount Borough Council,.

Walker, Delwyn (2000) John Cuthbert Adams (1854-1932), unpublished essay, Tauranga Heritage Collection.

Mount Wharf

The Port of Tauranga at Mount Maunganui
Published by Dow Productions, 1976
Image courtesy of Justine Neal

The main export Port for the Bay of Plenty. One of the main exports through this Port is timber. The Wagner Log Grab for loading lifts 40 tons at one time.

Loading Logs, Mount Maunganui
Published by A.H. & A.W. Reed
Image courtesy of Justine Neal

From this overseas port, a few miles from the city of Tauranga, many hundreds of tons of logs are shipped each year, the largest contingent going to Japan. The logs are brought by road transport from the bush sites to the wharves.

Mt. Maunganui, Tauranga, N.Z., The Wharves
Published by Gladys M Goodall, c. 1960
Image courtesy of Justine Neal

Stacks of timber behind the F-shaped wharf are clues to the importance of Mount Maunganui, the main port for the Bay of Plenty. Every year  over 112,000 tons of paper and newsprint, 283,000 tons of timber and softwood, and 64,000 tons of woodpulp are loaded here. This is almost all New Zealand’s export trade of paper and woodpulp and 90 per cent of her timber exports. The total export value is 9 million pounds. The new harbour and wharves have been built since 1952 when the application of the trace element, cobalt, to the soils of the hinterland, revitalised farming, and the exotic forest industry came to maturity.

Logs at Hewletts Road, Mt. Maunganui, 2015
Image © and courtesy of Brett Payne

St Columba Church, Otumoetai

St Columba Church, Otumoetai, 1969
Colour transparency from the Gale Collection, Ref. 0976
Image courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection

This is St Columba Church on Otumoetai Road. It is near the Cherrywood shops. My Dad went to Sunday school here. I think this photograph was taken not long after the Church was opened.

St Columba Church, Otumoetai, 2015
Photo by Charlie Colquhoun

The church doesn’t look too different. I think the colour of the roof has changed because it is more than 50 years old. A footpath has been added since the photo was taken and the trees have grown a lot.

Rose Garden, Pond & Fountain, Robbins Park

Rose Garden, Pond & Fountain, Robbins Park, 1968
Colour transparency from the Gale Collection, Ref. 1019
Image courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection

I wanted to see if I could take a photograph that looked just like this one and I think I have. The pond, statue, roses and fence are still there and haven’t changed at all.

Rose Garden, Pond & Fountain, Robbins Park, 2015
Photo by Charlie Colquhoun

Other things have changed. The trees have grown a lot and the houses over the road are gone and there is a new modern house there.

The water in the pond is really dirty compared to what it looks like in the old photo. There are no plants growing. I wonder if there used to be fish in it before? There definitely isn’t any fish in it now. I think it should be cleaned up.

The Masonic Hotel

You can see the Masonic Hotel in this photograph. This was taken in the early 1900s.
Photo courtesy of the Tauranga Heritage Collection

Not everyone knows that Masonic Park is named after a hotel . I didn’t until I looked it up. The Masonic Hotel was there for a very long time, more than a 100 years, before it was pulled down in 1993. This was before I was born!

If you visit the park you will see this!

When they were digging in the park a few months ago they found some bricks and stones. These were used to bake bread in a Bakery. It’s good they have kept the stones and bricks where they are.

Crabbe's Store

Bay of Plenty Times building, cnr 6th Ave/Cameron Rd
Photo courtesy of Fiona Kean

There used to be a really important store where this building is now on the corner of 6th Ave and Cameron Road.

Crabbe's Store, cnr 6th Ave/Cameron Rd
Photo courtesy of the Tauranga Heritage Collection

Crabbe’s Store sold lots of different things to people who lived around here. There were jars filled with lollies for kids. I would like to buy my lollies from this store.

Hillsdene/Crabbe's Store, Tauranga Boys' College, Cameron Rd
Photo courtesy of Fiona Kean

It is really good that they moved the Store and didn’t get rid of it. It is now at the Boys’ College.

Mount Drury

Mount Drury from Moturiki (Photo courtesy of Fiona Kean & Charlie Colquhoun)

We took this photograph from Moturiki. It is also called Leisure Island. It was hard to find the right place to take the photograph from as it has changed a lot. Mt Drury doesn’t look as big.

Mount Drury from Moturiki (Photo courtesy of Tauranga Heritage Collection)

In the old photograph I thought there was a path on the beach. Aunty Fiona told me it was a tram track. I wonder where it went? Maybe it is still there? It could be under the sand. I thought maybe we could find it with a metal detector and dig it up.

Hotel Oceanside

Hotel Oceanside, Mount Maunganui (Photo courtesy of Alf Rendell)

I never saw the Hotel Oceanside but it used to be where the Coffee Club is now. I think it is weird that they pulled down such an old building to put a café there. There are lots of cafés but only one Hotel Oceanside.

Mount Maunganui (Photo courtesy of Fiona Kean)

Hotel Oceanside, 1952, Advertisement