Walk your way to Deco-dence

KAREN PHELPS joins a tour and feasts her eyes on the spectacular architecture of Napier.

Not so long ago people in Napier weren't saying Art Deco, they were saying "Art what?"

"Most people in town were pretty ho-hum about Art Deco. They didn't even know what it was," says Art Deco Tour guide Brian Ford.

Designed primarily by a group of local architects, Napier represents the most complete and significant group of Art Deco buildings in the world, the result of a frantic two-year rebuilding effort after an earthquake and fire in 1931 which destroyed most of the central business district. In 1985 the formation of the Art Deco Trust changed perceptions and the realisation dawned that Napier was sitting on a tourism goldmine.

Although it is rumoured that the neighbouring city of Hastings has more Art Deco buildings, it hasn't been as good at marketing itself.

Napier is an art historian's dream. Not only will you see Art Deco, but a hint of Art Nouveau, the influence of the Chicago and Prairie Schools, examples of Spanish Mission, Beaux Arts, Stripped Classical and International styles.

Art Deco was the first modern style of the 20th century. It was a period characterised by three important ideas: the development of science, technology and the machine, the increasing independence of women and the overthrow of old conventions.

These beliefs were embodied in the favourite motifs of the style - geometric, usually angular patterns and shapes, symbols of power and speed such as lightning flashes, and symbols of freedom and the dawn of the new age such as the rising sun. Conversely, although Art Deco represented a break with the past, it also had a fascination with ancient cultures, particularly Egyptian, Aztec and Mayan.

Napier is probably the only city in the world where you can walk around a group of Art Deco buildings in an hour. The tour begins at the fuchsia-coloured Soundshell (once a focus of entertainment when few people had cars) and moves down Emerson St to the ASB bank, probably New Zealand's finest example of Maori carving and kowhaiwhai (rafter) patterns ornamenting a European-style building. It was the demolition of the banks on the two opposite corners that prompted the formation of the Art Deco Trust. Ford jokes that the only redeemable feature of these banks now is that the Art Deco ASB bank is reflected in their windows.

Further on is the Criterion Hotel (Napier's largest Spanish Mission-style building) and the Market Reserve Building built by Rene Natusch, who demanded it be made of riveted steel to create as much noise as possible, sending a message of hope to Napier that their city was being rebuilt.

The Daily Telegraph Building on Tennyson St is flamboyant. It exhibits almost all of the elements of the Deco style - zigzags, fountain shapes, ziggurats and a sunburst.

One of the few building to withstand the Napier earthquake was the Public Trust Building, an example of classical-revival design.

Don't expect the colour scheme of the buildings to be true to the era. The policy of the Art Deco Trust is to paint the buildings to accentuate the design of the plaster work. Even the manhole covers are in the Art Deco style and a sunburst design on the pavement, by a local artist, extends its rays into the mall.

If you get a chance, take a closer look inside the Municipal Theatre and visit the Rothmans building (not part of the tour, as it is out of the central city), an unusual mixture of Art Deco and Art Nouveau with a richness rare for an industrial building.

Casenotes


Morning walk: one hour, departs from the information centre at 10 am, cost $8 (children free).

Afternoon walk: two hours, departs from the Art Deco Shop at 2 pm, cost $10 (children free). Tours are conducted daily regardless of weather. Bookings are not necessary.

When to go: If you want to catch the annual Art Deco Weekend, it runs from February 15-18.

Information: freephone 0508 Art Deco or visit

Art Deco Weekend