Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Editorial: Age even catches up with bricks

Hawkes Bay Today
27 Sep, 2012 08:58 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Demolition of Taradale's oldest commercial building this week is one of several crushing reminders Napier is getting that, in New Zealand, basing a city's tourism image on architecture, bricks and mortar does have its tenuous aspects.

Unlike the days when the world's leading construction experts wore loin cloths and hauled huge blocks by hand, New Zealand buildings have never been built to last forever.

No building in New Zealand, at least nothing in times of European settlement, is yet more than 200 years old, although in most of our lifetimes we should see such a milestone, thanks to the endurance of Kemp House, a Bay of Islands landmark built of timber in 1821.

It's older, even, than our oldest stone building, the nearby Stone Store, completed in 1836.

The passing of the two-storey building on the corner of Puketapu Rd and Gloucester St, home of Tremain Real Estate in one form or another for 34 years and making way for a new domicile for the proud firm, does have its tinges of sadness.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But the reality is that such a survivor of those good old days when Taradale had its own autonomy, identified and administered by a town board (1886-1963) and a borough council (1963-68), would sooner or later have to go.

The building was just over 80 years old, having been built for baker and "pastrycook" Thomas Crutchley after his previous wooden building, which opened as Thomas Jeffares' Blue Gum Store in the late 1870s, was destroyed by fire in 1928.

It survived the 1931 earthquake, despite the near-collapse of its southern wall and other damage, but four-score years and more later it is the risk of what might happen in another earthquake - prompted by earthquakes in Christchurch over the last two years - that has prompted the decision to knock it down.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The Tremains are far from being the only building owners in Napier, indeed throughout New Zealand, facing big decisions about the futures of ageing buildings. In many cases some worry and fear for their own economic survivability.

It poses issues about how we either collectively or individually face up to life, and its inevitabilities.

Is the review of structural capabilities across the land a knee-jerk reaction?

Or is it simply hastening what would happen anyway?

And how long will it take before the wrecking ball passes through the visage that is Art Deco?

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Napier man arrested after military-style guns found in children's bedrooms

08 Jul 07:17 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Plan to drill wastewater pipe under Clive River withdrawn amid opposition

08 Jul 02:32 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke’s Bay Magpies land another Super Rugby star for upcoming NPC campaign

07 Jul 11:17 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Napier man arrested after military-style guns found in children's bedrooms

Napier man arrested after military-style guns found in children's bedrooms

08 Jul 07:17 AM

The man is facing 14 charges, including unlawful possession of prohibited firearms.

Plan to drill wastewater pipe under Clive River withdrawn amid opposition

Plan to drill wastewater pipe under Clive River withdrawn amid opposition

08 Jul 02:32 AM
Hawke’s Bay Magpies land another Super Rugby star for upcoming NPC campaign

Hawke’s Bay Magpies land another Super Rugby star for upcoming NPC campaign

07 Jul 11:17 PM
Premium
'100% a crisis': More than 900 women wait for specialist gynaecology care in Hawke’s Bay

'100% a crisis': More than 900 women wait for specialist gynaecology care in Hawke’s Bay

07 Jul 06:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP