We are talking here about a combination of art, sculpture, theatre culture, tourism, history and education - the centre of visitor information, and more.
Ingredients already in place:
1) Opera House.
2) Former Municipal Buildings
3) Briscoes/Rebel Sports site.
4) Carparks in place in Rebel Sports block, from Queen Street to Heretaunga Street.
5) A couple of metres underground there is a still-running stream which once meandered through the Hastings racecourse, down the bank at Central School where there was still a boat shed until recent years, into the town centre where it flowed across the site of the Opera House, veering toward the Catholic church then north again across Queen Street and all the others until it can be seen today where it emerges in Windsor Park as the boating lake.
6) Another possibility for incorporation is the old Regent Cinema (later inappropriately renamed the Westend).
7) Over the fence in Warren Street just waiting to be included is the pleasant but tiny Landmarks Square.
8) South of the Opera House, there's a plaza with opening roof and connecting offices.
9) West of the plaza, in Eastbourne Street, is a thickly concreted building, the site of the first electric power generators for the township of Hastings, the first in Hawke's Bay.
This building is currently being converted for modern use by a property developer with an interest in Hawke's Bay history. It would be easy to create a link with the building's past. That may already have been thought of.
The grand plan:
- Close off the block of Heretaunga Street East between Hastings Street and Warren Street.
- Demolish Briscoes and Rebel Sports Buildings, both of little architectural or historical significance.
- Merge the closed road with the cleared Briscoes/Rebel sports site, the already available carpark land, and Landmarks Square. This immediately allows for a mixture of open space, greenery and parking.
- The merged area opens way for the historic Ngati Kahungunu connection.
- Now we can access the Makirikiri stream currently under ground.
Those who can not visualise the proposal so far might stand in the New World carpark to see how well clear space across the road would open the spectacle of Opera House and Municipal Buildings, which house the Assembly Hall (a ballroom or concert chamber); large supper rooms and kitchen adjoining.
There's also the attractive Shakespeare Room - named after Ron, not the Bard. This was once the council meeting chamber.
- With part of Heretaunga Street closed to through traffic (not needed these days) we can create a grand entranceway porch northward from the Assembly Hall toward the new open space.
- This grand entryway immediately becomes the main access to everything. There's a lot of space downstairs, the area once housed municipal offices, a public library and the original Cliff Press printery. The original design provided eight shops.
- We use this weather-protected entranceway as a swept-up approach to the Opera House, to the ballroom/concert chamber and to the Shakespeare Room. One, or all, can be used at the same time.
- Downstairs there's room for a new tourist information office, in council-owned premises rather than a leased shop in the hard-to-get-at Westerman's block.
- There's room downstairs for cafeteria/restaurant space, serving day-time trade, theatre crowds and special events in the Assembly Hall above.
- There's room for indoor/outdoor display space, booking offices and mingling areas.
The carpark opposite the grand entrance will provide bus parking and easier access than Russell Street provides to the information office. This could also mean that tourist buses use this site. The change will offer parking day and night for theatre-goers.
The newly-opened space also allows restoration of the historic Ngati Kahungunu connection: In the formative days of Hastings township, the now-buried Makirikiri Stream was crossed by a small bridge close to the Municipal buildings. Kiddies used to go there to catch eels and bathe with the Maori children on Saturdays and holidays. There was a small Pa on the bank of the stream not far from the junction of Warren Street and Heretaunga Street.
What about a conservatorium of music, a theatre school and similar facilities allowing teachers to utilise the spare rooms and offices which abound in this block?
Hopefully there is only a minority of naysayers.
- James Morgan was a stage director, president and life member of Hastings Group Theatre. He performed in the Hawke's Bay Opera House, then known as the Municipal Theatre, in the last of the big-stage productions for Group Theatre; also for Tomoana Players. He directed major musicals in the theatre for the Hastings Light Opera Company and was director of musicals in both Hastings and Napier for Napier Operatic Society for more than 14 years.
- Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz
