Teasey’s Building & Garage

Following my theme of ghost names on buildings that no longer refer to the current occupants I draw your attention to Teasey’s Building No. 34 and Teasey’s Garage No 32 on the east side of Devonport Road.

William Teasey, early 1900s
Cabinet card portrait by Charles A. Winn of Remuera, Auckland
Brain Watkins House Collection

William Thomas Teasey arrived in New Zealand as a young man with the purpose of working for his uncle Mr J Wright in his draper’s shop on The Strand. Teasey left Caledon in County Tyrone in the area from which many of George Vesey Stewart’s Katikati settlers originated. In 1899 Teasey was able to buy a drapery business from Thomas Stuart and he married in that year Ada Brain the eldest daughter of Joseph D Brain, boat builder of Tauranga. The couple had two sons Harry and Wilson. The shop was located in The Arcade on the corner of Wharf Street and The Strand. Meanwhile Mr Wright continued with his business the "Temple of Fashion" on The Strand.

Harry and Wilson Teasey
Large format studio portrait by unidentified photographer
Brain Watkins House Collection

William Teasey widened his range of goods from drapery and a “good selection of Irish linen goods from Belfast” to bicycles in 1908 as interest in them gained popularity in Tauranga. He took part in cricket, the Methodist Church activities, shooting and the Acclimatisation Society, the Chamber of Commerce, he was secretary of the Tauranga Domain Board and became a J.P. He prospered and in 1911 William and Ada Teasey took a trip with their two young sons to visit “the old country.” From 1921 advertisements were appearing in the paper for Maxwell & Teasey land agents and although Maxwell’s name eventually disappeared from advertising Teasey continued to follow this occupation. Teasey’s drapery business moved to premises on the west side of Devonport Road opposite where he was to build his own building.

Teasey's Garage, Devonport Road, Tauranga, Estd. 1932
Tauranga City Libraries Image Ref. 15-223
Copyright Rodney Giddens CC BY-NC 4.0

Tauranga expanded and consolidated its commercial centre in the 1930s as the population grew to 3000. Teasey’s Building is a good example of commercial Art Deco style featuring the stepped façade with chevron details, raised plaster lettering and a rectangular patterned band along the top of the parapet. Wilson Teasey’s garage from 1932 predates the retail building which William T Teasey built in 1939 on the site of his small brick office from which he had operated as a land agent for some years. When the building was first built it provided retail premises on the ground floor, offices upstairs including a room for a piano teacher, with some accommodation at the rear of the first floor. The Tauranga Rowing Club began with meetings in a shed at the back of Teasey’s building before they moved to more appropriate premises on the water’s edge.

Recently the building has been strengthened to meet earthquake requirements.

References

Matthews & Matthews Architects, Tauranga CDB Heritage Study 2007 (for TCC)
Bay of Plenty Times

Photographs
Brain Watkins collection, Tauranga City Library Pae Koroki

Barney's Building and Hynds

Ghost signs are old painted signs that have been left on buildings for a long time and no longer relate to the current use of the place. There are other ghosts, names on buildings incorporated in the plaster on the façade that also relate to the past. They are not ghost buildings as they are still in use.

Corner of Maunganui Road and Pacific Avenue early 1930s taken from Hupokiore (Mt Drury)
Postcard published by National Publicity Studios, Collection of Justine Neal

Two of these are in Maunganui Road at the corner of Pacific Avenue. Although often a nickname the Barneys Building on the façade of the building on the corner refers to James (Jim) Barney and the little building next door named Hynds refers to A.S. Hynds the original owner.

Louise Fenton and friend Christine near Barney’s in 1968
Photograph collection and courtesy of Justine Neal

James Barney was a carpenter in Te Puke before he moved to Mount Maunganui with his wife and children, Marion, George and Val, in the early 1920s. He bought sections, one in Victoria Road for a store, and he built a house backing onto the store next door in Pacific Avenue. Jack Kelly owned the section on the corner of Pacific Avenue and Maunganui Road in the same block and he built a store there. In 1936 the Barney store burned down and Jim Barney bought Kelly’s building. This was the busy part of the town in the 1930s and 40s.

The Barney family were involved in local activities at the Mount including the Domain Board, Golf, Rugby, Croquet Clubs and Plunket Society. Mrs. Barney provided a room for the Red Cross at the back of the shop for meetings and storage. This was the time when the population of the town was 3000, growing to 15000 during the holiday season. Over time ownership changed but its general purpose was the same, a general store or superette. Colin Neal bought the building in 1971 and operated a Four Square business until 1976, also selling buckets, spades and beach gear. Today the ground floor consists of two shops: Downtown Foodmarket, a dairy with a liquor licence, and Tank, a juice bar on the corner. Upstairs an architect has his premises.

Barney’s Building and Hynds Building, 2021
Photograph by Shirley Arabin

On Maunganui Road the adjacent single-story building has the word Hynds on the façade. The photograph of the intersection taken from Hopukiori (Mount Drury) in the 1930s shows Hynds Butchery standing and the Barney site empty. A.S. Hynds was a butcher in Tauranga with a chain of shops including one on The Strand and this one at the Mount. Today it is the premises of Mount Fish & Chips.